The World Cup begins in Russia.

Survival
So, I finally waited for the start of the Greco-Roman wrestling matches at the 2018 World Championships in Hungary. And disappointed. Four wrestlers have already performed. Vasily Topoev
(up to 55 kg) in the first meeting he won against the Bulgarian Nedyalko Petrov, but in the 1/8 finals he lost to the Georgian Nugzari Tsurtsumiya. Abuyazid Manzigov
(up to 72 kg) defeated the Belarusian Pavel Lyakh at the start of the competition, but lost to the German Frank Staebler in the 1/8 finals.
Topoev and Mantsigov will have the right to continue fighting for the bronze medals of the tournament if Tsurtsumiya and Shtabler reach the finals. Imil Sharafetdinov

(up to 82 kg) in the qualifying stage match he lost to the Armenian Maxim Manukyan and later, after the defeat of his opponent in the quarterfinals, he lost hopes of fighting for the bronze medal. The only one so far to make it to the finals in the weight category up to 63 kilograms

Stepan Maranyan.

Let me remind you of the composition of the Russian national team:

Up to 55 kg. Vasily Topoev.

Up to 60 kg. Sergey Emelin is the 2018 European champion.

Up to 63 kg. Stepan Maryanyan - winner of the 2015 Jewish Games, medalist of the 2017 World Cup.

Up to 67 kg. Artem Surkov is a three-time European champion (2015, 2017, 2018, two-time world championship medalist (2015, 2017).

Up to 72 kg. Abuyazid Mantsigov is a winner of the 2017 European Championship.

Up to 77 kg. Alexander Chekhirkin is the 2014 European champion.

Up to 82 kg. Imil Sharafetdinov - winner of the 2010 World Cup.

Up to 87 kg. Bekhan Ozdoev is the winner of the 2018 European Championship.

Up to 97 kg. Musa Evloev is a winner of the 2017 World Cup.

Up to 130 kg. Sergey Semenov - 2016 Olympic Games medalist.

Those who will no longer be able to qualify for medals of the highest standard are highlighted in bold.

Very soon, on June 14, 2018, the 2018 FIFA World Cup will start in Russia. For the first time in history, the championship will be held in Eastern Europe. Due to the difficult political situation in the world, the holding of the Championship in Russia almost fell through, but the organizers made a decision in the direction of sports, and not in the direction of politics.

Each of the cities is going to host hundreds of thousands of fans and tourists from other countries of the world and surprise them with their hospitality. Everywhere, in addition to the preparation of stadiums, hotels are being prepared, hostels and even ordinary residents renting out rooms and apartments. Park areas are being put in order, popular recreational areas are being improved, and architectural and cultural monuments are being “washed.”

In St. Petersburg, for example, 33 football cats, painted in the colors of the participating countries, will greet the guests of the Championship; a Championship park has opened in Yekaterinburg; grandiose entertainment will be prepared for the guests in Moscow.

FIFA World Cup schedule - who is playing whom and in which cities

The World Championship starts on June 14 in Moscow - the first match will be played by the national team against Saudi Arabian players. Note that the teams were divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each by drawing lots.

The World Cup schedule is already known:

The playoffs start on June 30. The quarterfinals will take place on July 6 and 7. The semi-finals will take place on July 10 and 11, and the final and closing of the Championship will take place on July 15, 2018.

FIFA World Cup 2018 - information for fans

As you know, in order to become a Championship fan, it is enough to buy at least one ticket to one of the Championship matches. Subsequently, you need to issue a special card - a Fan Passport. It is a mandatory document that you will present when entering any stadium in any city.

Passports were invented not only to fight fraudsters who distribute fake tickets - the document gives you a lot of privileges. For example, for residents of other countries who have a fan passport, it will serve as a visa to Russia for the duration of the Championship, Therussiantimes.com reports. The passport can also be used as a train ticket between participating cities.

A little more for reference: the symbol of the 2018 Championship is the wolf Zabivaka, the anthem is the song Colors performed by the American singer Jason Derulo. The 2018 World Cup emblem features the silhouette of the FIFA World Cup. Conquest of space, iconography and love for football are three components of the logo, according to a press release from the tournament’s organizing committee.

So we waited. On Thursday, the exciting adventure of the best teams on the planet will begin in 11 cities of our big country. When on December 2, 2010, Sepp Blatter in Zurich pulled out a piece of paper with the inscription RUSSIA from an envelope, I, like many, thought it was a joke. Is this really possible? No, I knew that in 1990 the championship could well have taken place in the USSR. However, it was a different era then, and Soviet football and its main characters were a plus. By the way, a preliminary secret vote held in 1984, a month before the final FIFA decision, revealed a clear advantage of our application over the Italian one. But, as often happens, politics then intervened in sports.

Politics tried to intervene this time too. But after a happy verdict. How many times have they tried to take the 2018 tournament away from us after the fact? The Americans and the British “tried their luck,” demanding to reconsider the results of what they considered to be “unfair” elections. The Germans, led by Hajo Seppelt, joined the fight, putting pressure on doping cases and other negative aspects. It didn't work out. True, it was not possible to achieve the necessary truce or bury the hatchet for at least a month. Why does the atmosphere of the upcoming holiday take on a khaki color?

Thus, British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that neither she, nor ministers, nor members of the royal family will fly to the 2018 World Cup. This “example” was followed by high-ranking officials from other countries. The head coach of the German national team, Joachim Löw, said: “Our participation in Russia does not mean that we are in solidarity with the system, the regime or the ruler. It's hard for me to see all these photos from Syria every day. But we are going." By the way, 26-year-old Yeltsin Tejeda will finally visit St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. The same Costa Rican midfielder whose mother adored Boris Yeltsin. It’s a pity that Boris Nikolaevich did not live to see this event.

But what values will Stanislav Cherchesov’s team, exempted from the qualifying round, fight for? Will Russian Brazilian Mario Fernandez and Spanish legionnaire Denis Cheryshev help Artem Dzyuba and Fedor Smolov score, or will the disappointed fans invent new jokes about Akinfeevv and company by the end of June?

“Novaya” represents the Russian national team and its three rivals in the group, as well as 8 other national teams, which, according to numerous polls, enjoy the greatest sympathy among our fans.

Based on the cost of the players, the potential winners on July 15 at Luzhniki should be either the French, or the Brazilians, or the Spaniards (all of them, by the way, have been promised record bonuses). As for the Russians, they are obliged to make it to the historic playoffs. However, as you know, at world championships the “poor” often beat the “rich”. And it’s not a fact that Messi or Neymar will be more useful than, say, that same Yeltsin Tejeda or the Egyptian goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadari, who at the age of 45 will make his debut at the World Cup.

Uruguay

Team cost and most expensive player according to the website www.transfermarkt.de.: 327 million euros (Luis Suarez - 70) .

Coach and his annual salary (according to informationZoominTV): Oscar Tabares (1.7 million euros).

Minuses: The Latin American coach is seriously ill—Tabares has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (serious damage to the nervous system), which prevents him from fully leading the national team. Moreover, while there are star players, the Charrúas do not have a spiritual leader.

Pros: Cavani and Suarez are a serious problem for any opponent. Between them, the Barcelona and PSG forwards scored 15 goals and provided 8 assists in the qualifying round.

Bookmaker odds for victory: 35.

Quote:“Edison and Louis? These are just names. Everyone is equal on the field." (Coach of the Russian national team Stanislav Cherchesov)

Performances at the World Championships (last 3 tournaments): 2006 - did not qualify, 2010 - semi-final (4th place), 2014 - 1/8 finals.

Bonus (to each player for World Cup gold): 200 thousand euros.

Egypt

197 million euros (Mohamed Salah - 150).

Hector Cooper (1.5 million euros)

Minuses: If the best football player and scorer (32 goals) of the English Premier League 2018, Salah, does not recover from the injury, the Pharaohs will lose 90 percent of their strength.

Pros: in the mood and with the cool Mohammed, the Cooper gang, which made it to the decisive round for the first time in 28 years, can take out anyone.

Bookmaker quotes: 150.

Quote:“We are one family and want to raise the profile of Egyptian football and bring joy to tens of millions of people.” (Goalkeeper Essam Al-Hadari)

2006, 2010, 2014 - did not pass the selection.

Premium: 150 thousand euros.

Belgium

Team cost and most expensive player: 754 million euros (Kevin De Bruyne - 150).

Coach and his annual salary: Roberto Martinez (925 thousand euros).

Minuses: The Red Devils coach is constantly in conflict with the leaders (for example, he did not include Radja Nainggolan in the application), which creates a nervous environment.

Pros: The attacking line of the Belgians occupying third place in the FIFA rankings (Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne), whom the main oracle of the 2018 World Cup, the goat Zabiyaka, predicted the final victory, will also be the envy of the Brazilians.

Bookmaker quotes: 12.

Quote:“There is a golden generation in Belgian football, but they need to take this seriously.” (Roberto Martinez)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006, 2010 - did not qualify, 2014 - 1/4 finals.

Premium: 600 thousand euros.

Saudi Arabia

Team cost and most expensive player: 18 million euros (Mohammed Al-Buraik - 1.3).

Coach and his annual salary: Juan Antonio Pizzi (1.4 million euros).

Minuses: The Saudis, who suffer from a lack of discipline among other things, are not friendly with technology and preach the “hit-and-run” principle, which requires a lot of energy.

Pros: for reaching the finals, each player received $1.3 million, and for a successful performance in Russia, they promise to make the “Desert Eagles” even richer.

Bookmaker quotes: 1000 (the main outsider of the 2018 World Cup).

Quote:“I left the team in protest. After I led the Arabians to the World Cup, my assistants were fired, and they began to dictate terms to me.” (Former coach Bert Van Marwijk)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006 - 4th place in the group, 2010, 2014 - did not qualify.

Premium: exact amount is unknown

Russia

Team cost and most expensive player: 161 million euros (Mario Fernandez - 16).

Coach and his annual salary: Stanislav Cherchesov (2.5 million euros, one of the five
the highest paid coaches among all national teams).

Minuses: Injuries to key defenders forced an urgent change in formation and tactics. And colossal pressure on the team, which already “owes nothing to anyone.”

Pros: For “old guys” like Sergei Ignashevich, Yuri Zhirkov and Alexander Samedov, this championship is the last major tournament in their careers. Maybe they, with the support of Golovin and the Miranchuk brothers, will beautifully slam the door goodbye?

Bookmaker quotes: 50.

Quote: “The team’s staff is very strong. All players understand the responsibility." (Chairman of the Russia-2018 organizing committee Arkady Dvorkovich)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006 - did not qualify, 2010 - eliminated in the play-offs, 2014 - 3rd place in the group.

Premium: 300 million rubles for the entire team for leaving the group, 1.2 billion rubles for reaching the final, 2 billion for winning.

Germany

Team cost and most expensive player: 883 million euros (Toni Kroos - 80).

Coach and his annual salary: Joachim Löw (3.8 million euros, the most expensive coach of the 2018 World Cup).

Minuses: The “German machine”, even without Manuel Neuer in goal, has not failed for a long time (10 wins in the qualifying round with a goal difference of 43-4, victory in the Confederations Cup). But at some point a breakdown has to happen.

Pros:“Bundestim” is strong psychologically and physically: it knows how to mercilessly put the squeeze on the enemy in any weather and in any circumstances.

Bookmaker quotes: 5.5. (the main favorite of the 2018 World Cup)

Quote:“Our goal is to become the first team since the Brazilians of 1962 to defend the title of the strongest on the planet. And it’s damn difficult because everyone dreams of beating the current world champions.” (Joachim Loew)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006, 2010 - bronze, 2014 - champion.

Premium: 350 thousand euros.

Brazil

Team cost and most expensive player: 981 million euros (Neymar - 180).

Coach and his annual salary: Tite (3.4 million euros).

Minuses:“Pentacampeons”, who have not regained their shape after Neymar, who has just healed his leg, do not always properly prepare themselves for opponents below them in class. In Russia, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia await them.

Pros: This is the only team in the world that has participated in all the final stages of the world championships.

And for once, with relative order in defense.

Bookmaker quotes: 6.

Quote:“I feel scared because I haven’t performed for three months. But this World Cup is ours: all of Brazil will rejoice.” (Neymar)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006, 2010 - 1/4 finals, 2014 - semi-finals (4th place).

Premium: 1 million dollars.

Spain

Team cost and most expensive player: 1.03 billion euros (Sergio Busquets - 80 million).

Coach and his annual salary: Julen Lopetegui (2.9 million euros).

Minuses: The Furia Roja, having lost its former lightness and creativity after Javi left, does not like being played harshly against. And Mr. Hulen has no serious international experience.

Pros: Spaniards rarely leave the field without scoring goals, and veteran Iniesta, for whom this is a farewell championship, is capable of working a miracle out of the blue.

Bookmaker quotes: 8.

Quote:“How should we defeat our enemies? Through hard work and sacrifice. There’s no other way.” (Midfielder Thiago Alcantara)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006 - 1/8 finals, 2010 - champion, 2014 - 3rd place in the group.

Premium: 800 thousand euros.

England

Team cost and most expensive player: 874 million euros (Harry Kane - 150).

Coach and his annual salary: Gareth Southgate (1.9 million euros).

Minuses: For ten years now, the Lions have not had a reliable goalkeeper at major tournaments.

Pros: Her Majesty's subjects are full of desire to return the Cup to their homeland after half a century. They were lucky with the group: they had to pass through Panama and Tunisia without looking.

Bookmaker quotes: 15.

Quote:“It’s an honor to play for the national team at the World Cup as a player. Leading the team is an even greater honor. I'm incredibly happy." (Gareth Southgate)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006 - 1/4 finals, 2010 - 1/8 finals, 2014 - 4th place in the group.

Premium: 290 thousand dollars.

Portugal

Team cost and most expensive player: 464 million euros (Cristiano Ronaldo - 100).

Coach and his annual salary: Fernando Santos (2.1 million euros).

Minuses: Some Seleçao players are well over 30, will the current European champions be able to withstand a month-long marathon?

Pros: The Crusaders are lucky guys and Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player on the planet right now.

Bookmaker quotes: 25.

Performances at the World Championships: 2006 - semi-final (4th place), 2010 - 1/8 finals, 2014 - 3rd place in the group.

Premium: 300 thousand euros.

Argentina

Team cost and most expensive player: 693 million euros (Lionel Messi - 180).

Coach and his annual salary: Jorge Sampaoli (1.7 million euros).

Minuses: The South American team is in crisis (“the blue and white” barely made it to the World Cup, where they found themselves in the “group of death” with Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria).

Pros: Five-time Golden Boot winner Messi and his partners will receive warm support in Russia (50 thousand fans will come from Argentina alone).

Bookmaker quotes: 9.

Quote:“Albiceleste won’t even be in the semi-finals. The national team plays bad, slow football, in which only Messi runs around, and everyone stands and looks at him.” (Commentator Vladimir Stognienko)

Performances at the European Championships: 2006, 2010 - 1/4 finals, 2014 - silver.

Premium: 250-300 thousand euros.

France

Team cost and most expensive player: 1.08 billion euros (Kylian Mbappe - 120 million).

Coach and his annual salary: Didier Deschamps (3.4 million euros).

Minuses:“Musketeers” have often lost concentration and made mistakes lately

Pros: Les Bleus is the most friendly team of the World Cup, which also has a deep roster. And their leaders - Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe - are in excellent shape.

Bookmaker quotes: 6,5.

Quote:“It’s hard when you have 25 players with a crazy attitude. But I believe in each of them and I hope they believe in me.” (Didier Deschamps)

Performances at the World Championships: 2006 - silver, 2010 - 4th place in the group, 2014 - 1/4 finals.

Premium: 400 thousand euros.

The FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will take place from June 14 to July 15.

It was previously assumed that the tournament would take place from June 8 to July 8, but in the end it was shifted by a week.

The world championship matches will be hosted by 12 stadiums in 11 Russian cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don and Saransk.

FIFA World Cup 2018, match schedule

The group stage matches of this round will be held in 11 Russian cities from June 14 to 28. Play-off matches: 1/8 - from June 30 to July 3, 1/4 games - July 6 and 7, semi-finals in St. Petersburg (July 10) and Moscow (July 11). Finally, the match for third place will take place on July 14 in St. Petersburg, and the championship final will take place on July 15 in Moscow.

The World Cup will open with the teams of Russia and Saudi Arabia. The final game will take place on July 15, 2018 at 18:00 Moscow time.

Calendar of games of the 1st round of the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Schedule of matches of the 2nd round of the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Russia – Egypt - June 19, 2018 – start at 21:00 – arena: “St. Petersburg”;

Argentina - Croatia - June 21, 2018 - start at 21:00 - arena: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium;

FIFA World Cup 2018, buy tickets

You need to go to the website and create an account, you can use the social networks Facebook and Google+. Carefully look at what you agree to when registering to avoid unnecessary mailings or, conversely, subscribe to important news.

Please keep in mind that only the main customer - the account holder - can pay for the order. If you use a friend’s card, the tickets will be canceled, and 20% of their value will be deducted from the card, or even 100% if there are less than 48 hours left before the match.

Tickets will be delivered to the address you provide within a few weeks before the start of the championship. Ticket delivery will begin no earlier than April/May 2018 (subject to change).

FIFA World Cup 2018 price, fan passport

In order to attend matches, you must have a ticket and a personalized spectator card, also known as a fan passport. If you only have a ticket in your hands, unfortunately, you won’t be allowed into the match.

A fan passport is issued free of charge and is valid for all matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This passport and match ticket will allow fans to travel free of charge on World Cup host city transport on match days.
There is already a single 24-hour hotline for fans regarding transportation issues. The Rospotrebnadzor department also operates a hotline for hotel services for the 2018 FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup 2018 official website

The official website of the 2018 FIFA World Cup is located at

Before the start of the championship, millions of people around the globe take special vacations so as not to miss any of the 64 matches. Held every four years, the World Cup attracts the increased attention of almost half of the world's population; it is an event of global significance. Given such interest in the World Cup, the organizers of the World Cup are carefully preparing for its holding, thinking through all the accompanying events to the smallest detail: ensuring the safety of all its participants and spectators, living conditions for the teams, accommodation of all visiting foreign fans and much more.

But the most attention is paid to one date - the opening of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It is this event that we will now talk about.

June 14, 2018 is marked with a red date in the calendar of all sports fans. It is on this day that the next World Cup starts, in which 32 teams from all regions of the world will compete for the golden set of awards.

The tournament participants are divided into eight groups of 4 teams. The teams that take first or second place in the group will take part in the next round. The championship begins with group stage meetings (48 matches in total), which lasts until June 28.

Eight games of the 1/8 finals will be held from June 30 to July 3.
The quarter-final matches will take place on July 6 and 7, again with two matches per day.
One semi-final match will take place on July 10 and 11.

On July 14, two teams that were eliminated in the semi-final matches will compete for third place and a bronze set of awards. And on July 15, the whole world will join their screens to enjoy the final match of the World Cup, and the closing ceremony of the world tournament will take place on the same day.

When and where will the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup take place?

The upcoming World Cup has its own special calendar, where the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup falls on June 14. The championship will begin at 18:00 at the Luzhniki Stadium, when Russian football players will compete with guys from Asia in a head-to-head meeting.

And the opening ceremony itself will begin two hours before this first confrontation of the beginning world tournament.

The details of this event are kept very secret by the organizers themselves, but some information sources say that this will be one of the most ambitious shows that can eclipse all previous ones. It is known that the 2018 World Cup anthem will be sung by an actor, musician and singer from America and another performer from Albania. Naturally, the President of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, will make a welcoming speech at this event.

The Luzhniki Stadium itself has been preparing for the upcoming magnificent event for a long time and, judging by the spreading rumors, it will be incredibly beautiful and impressive.

Recently, it has been said that the opening ceremony may begin half an hour before the opening match. It will be short but grandiose. In general, the intrigue is heating up like crazy.

Beginning of the championship

The date June 14 is the beginning of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. On this day, the only match will be played - “Russia - Saudi Arabia”. It’s interesting that the World Cup starts a few days later every year:

World Cup 2014: June 12 – “Brazil-Croatia”;
World Cup 2010: June 11 – “South Africa - Mexico”;
World Cup 2006: June 9 – “Germany – Costa Rica”;
World Cup 2002: May 31 - France - Senegal.

The first match

As mentioned above, the opening match of the 2018 World Cup is the Russia-Saudi Arabia match. The team representing the host of the tournament is the first to start the fight. Traditionally, the teams of group “A” begin to play, on the second day two more teams from this group will play and representatives of group “B” will begin to fight.

The opening and final match will be hosted by Luzhniki (Moscow). Tickets for the World Cup match have been on sale for a long time, they are all divided into 4 categories:

4th - from 30,000 rubles;
2nd – from 24,000 rubles;
3rd – from 13,000 rubles;
1st – from 1,260 rubles (opening match from 3,200).

You can immediately say that the cost of tickets is not the highest. For example, at the last World Cup in Brazil, a fan had to spend at least 5,000 rubles to purchase a ticket.

Interesting information: although the US team does not take part in the upcoming tournament, the second largest number of tickets purchased after Russia is the Stars and Stripes. In 3rd place in terms of ticket purchases are Colombia and Germany, then Mexico, Argentina, Peru, etc. South American fans are more active.

There are some restrictions when purchasing tickets:

you cannot purchase tickets for different matches taking place on the same day;
No more than four tickets are given per hand, all of them will be of only one category.

Championship cities

The upcoming World Cup will be held in 11 cities, where tremendous work has been done to organize and host the world championship. Naturally, both capitals of the country are included in this list: Moscow and St. Petersburg. It also included:

Volgograd;
Kazan;
Sochi;
Kaliningrad (many European fans will find it easier to get to this city);
Nizhny Novgorod;
Samara;
Rostov-on-Don.

The eleventh city where the games of the upcoming tournament will be held is Saransk.

Initially, it was proposed to hold the 21st World Cup on the football fields of 13 cities, but the FIFA commission rejected this proposal and reduced the presented list to eleven.

Unfortunately, the World Cup flew past cities such as Yaroslavl and Krasnodar.

In each city, an existing stadium was reconstructed or a new one was built, meeting all the necessary international standards. One of the main requirements for stadiums is its capacity; it should not be less than 40 thousand people. True, two stadiums do not reach this indicator: (“Ekaterinburg Arena” and “Kaliningrad”).

Much work was carried out in the cities themselves:

new hotels were built to accommodate large numbers of foreign fans;
a major overhaul of city communications was carried out;
Transport networks were modernized and local hospitals and clinics were renovated.

A big surprise for many domestic fans was the fact that the list of cities hosting the championship included Saransk, but Krasnodar was not included here. It is difficult to understand what caused this. Maybe the government wanted to improve the city's infrastructure in view of such a grandiose event?

within a radius of two kilometers from the stadium where the championship matches will be held, the sale of alcoholic beverages and regular drinks in glass containers is prohibited;
shooting ranges and stores where firearms and ammunition are sold are closed;
It is prohibited to bring objects longer than 25 centimeters into the stadium itself (goodbye selfie sticks);
Lighting fires outdoors is prohibited.

Remember that several million fans from all over the world will come to the upcoming world tournament, and in addition to football, they will obviously take a closer look at the way of life of Russians, their culture, decency, and friendliness. Therefore, everyone must remember that in front of foreign sports fans, local children must show only the best qualities: politeness, responsiveness and mutual understanding.

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