World Cup 2018: Schedule, Location, Fixtures, Tickets, Dates, Draw, Wiki

On this page we will be talking about World Cup 2018: Schedule, location, fixtures, tickets, dates, draw.

The 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup will take place in the summer of 2018 in Russia.

There is no bigger sporting event on earth than football's quadrennial international championship, which draws more television viewers than even the Olympic Games.

And the 2018 tournament is particularly notable for being the last before the current World Cup status quo becomes a distant memory.

In 2022, the trophy will head to Asia for a controversial tournament in Qatar that will be the first to be played outside of the European summer due to concerns over the country's climate.

After that, the World Cup will complete its expansion - opposed by many fans - to 48 teams and is likely to be held across three countries for the first time in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026.

In the much more immediate future, though, the best players and countries in world football will head to Russia hoping to be crowned world champions. Here is everything you need to know about the 2018 tournament.

The first match of the World Cup will involve hosts Russia and kick off on Thursday, June 14, 2018 at 18:00 local time (16:00 BST). It will be against Saudi Arabia in Group A and take place at the Luzhniki Stadium, which will also be the venue for the final.

That will be the only game on the opening day, but after that there will be three or four games played per day for the duration of the group stage.

When is the 2018 World Cup final?

The tournament ends on Sunday, July 15, with the final kicking off at 18:00 in Moscow (16:00 BST). The third-place play-off is a day earlier, and the two semi-finals will take place on July 10 and 11.

All of the final four matches of the World Cup will be played at either the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow or the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg.