FIFA World Cup 2018

The FIFA World Cup 2018 is the 1st edition of the greatest tournament ever. It will oppose the 24 best teams from all over the world for the 1st world title ever. Russia was chosen to host the tournament. The 23 remaining teams have qualified by winning the best spots in each continental tournament.

This is the first tournament who will include the "player of the match system" who will give an award for the best player in each match in the whole tournament.

## Entrants

The 24 spots are divided into all the confederations like this:

* 1 spot for the host (Russia)
* 11 spots for UEFA (+ Russia)
* 3 spots for the duo AFC/OFC
* 3 spots for CAF
* 2 spots for CONCACAF
* 4 spots for CONMEBOL

## Host Stadiums

Russia put 12 host stadiums for the competition. Since some teams are unable to play in Russia, because they aren't added to the World Cup update, their matches will be played in the Donbass Arena, in Ukraine.

So the 13 stadiums are:

* Central Stadium
* Cosmos Arena
* Donbass Arena
* Fisht Olympic Stadium
* Kaliningrad Stadium
* Kazan Arena
* Krestovsky Stadium
* Luzhniki Stadium
* Mordovia Arena
* Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
* Otkritie Arena
* Rostov Arena
* Volgograd Arena

## Seeding

The first step for the seeding is to choose the pots, all based on the general level of the 24 teams (except Russia, who will be in the pot 1, as the host, with the 5 best teams).

The rules for the seeding:

* Russia is automatically in group A, at the position A1.
* Each group will be composed of one team from each pot.
* There will be continental limitations to diversify the matches. The maximums per continent will be this way:
	+ 2 teams per group for UEFA.
	+ 1 team per group for AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, OFC.

## Tournament

The tournament will be played in two phases: Group Stage and Elimination Stage.

Group Stage: the 24 teams are seeded into 6 groups of 4 teams. Like always, each group works like a close championship where each team play one time against the 3 others. 3 points are given for each win, 1 point for a tie, and nothing for a lose. At the end, the top 2 teams of each group qualify (for the first time) for the round of 16 (1st turn in the Elimination Stage). After all the groups have finished all their matches, there will be a comparison between the teams who end 3rd in the 6 groups. Then the top 4 teams (on results in the group stage) are qualified as well for the Elimination Stage.

Elimination Stage: for the first time a new round was played: the round of 16. Because the number of groups (and the number of team qualified for each rank) are not optimised for a properly distribution for the final board, a new rule will appear: at the end of the group stage, the 16 teams qualified will be ranked from 1 to 16: the 6 teams who ends 1st will take the ranks 1st to 6th, the 6 teams who ends 2nd the ranks 7th to 12nd and the four teams who ends 3rd the ranks 13rd to 16th. Then the teams will be oppose in the board as the level of their performance: 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15 etc...

## Group Stage

### Group A

#### Thursday, 21st of june

Russia  3-0  Iran

Luzhniki Stadium

 A. Dzagoev 5', 66' F. Smolov 90'

BP:  A. Dzagoev

#### Friday, 22nd of june

Argentina  0-0  Netherlands

Volgograd Arena

BP:  Cillessen

#### Tuesday, 26th of june

Netherlands  1-0  Russia

Cosmos Arena

 M. Depay 42'

BP:  van Dijk

Iran  1-2  Argentina

Kaliningrad Stadium

 R. Cheshmi 88'  A. Jahanbaksh 19'(OG) G. Higuain 31'

BP:  R. Cheshmi

#### Saturday, 30th of june

Argentina  2-0  Russia

Fisht Olympic Stadium

 E. Banega 26' P. Dybala 86'

BP:  Biglia

Iran  0-0  Netherlands

Otkritie Arena

BP:  Beiranvand

### Group B

#### Friday, 22nd of june

Uruguay  0-0  Czech Republic

Volgograd Arena

BP:  Giménez

Ivory Coast  0-0  Slovenia

Donbass Arena (replace the Mordovia Arena)

BJ:  Jokić

#### Tuesday, 26th of june

Slovenia  1-0  Uruguay

Donbass Arena (replace the Rostov Arena)

 J. Kurtic 90'

BP:  Samardžić

#### Wesneday, 27th of june

Czech Republic  1-1  Ivory Coast

Donbass Arena (replace the Central Stadium)

 J. Jankto 85'  J. Seri 23'

BP:  J. Seri

#### Sunday, 1st of july

Ivory Coast  0-0  Uruguay

Donbass Arena (replace the Luzhniki Stadium)

BP:  Godin

Czech Republic  0-0  Slovenia

Donbass Arena (replace the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)

BP:  Skubic

*Notice the fact that Ivory Coast and Czech Republic ends in a perfect tie at the end of the group stage. A draw was made to determinate who will rank 2nd. Czech Republic was drawn and take the 2nd rank, qualifying them directly to the round of 16. Anyway, Ivory Coast still qualify for the round of 16 since they end in the 4 best 3rds.*

### Group C

#### Saturday, 23rd of june

United States  0-0  Croatia

Central Stadium

BP:  Howard

New Zealand  1-1  France

Krestovsky Stadium

 S. Singh 78'  O. Dembele 84'

BP:  Marinović

#### Wesneday, 27th of june

France  1-0  United States

Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

 A. Griezmann 71'

BP:  Lloris

Croatia  1-0  New Zealand

Volgograd Arena

 L. Modric 49'

BP:  Rakitić

#### Monday, 2nd of july

New Zealand  0-1  United States

Rostov Arena

 J. Brook 90'

BP:  Howard

Croatia  0-1  France

Kalinigrad Stadium

 Š. Vrsaltko 83'  A. Griezmann 45'

BP:  Mbappé

*Notice: United States and Croatia ends in a perfect tie. For determinate who will end 2nd or 3rd, the 2 teams were opposed on fair play, and there is a yellow car given to Croatia, who leads United States to take the 2nd rank and Croatia the 3rd rank, like for Czech Republic and Ivory Coast in group B, United States and Croatia did qualify for the round of 16.*

### Group D

#### Saturday, 23rd of june

Morocco  3-0  Canada

Rostov Arena

 N. Dirar 49', 66' K. El Ahmadi 71'

BP:  N. Dirar

#### Sunday, 24th of june

Belgium  3-0  Romania

Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

 K.De Bruyne 17' E. Hazard 41' M. Batshayi 80'

BP:  K. De Bruyne

#### Thursday, 28th of june

Romania  1-2  Morocco

Fisht Olympic Stadium

 M. El Kajoui 81'(OG)  K. Boutaib 15' Y. Belhanda 39'

BP:  Benatia

Canada  0-3  Belgium

Krestovsky Stadium

 E. Hazard 9' K. De Bruyne 41' N. Chadli 66'

BP:  E. Hazard

#### Monday, 2nd of july

Belgium  1-1  Morocco

Central Stadium

 Y. Carrasco 21' E. Hazard 79'  K. Boutaib 52'

BP:  E. Hazard

Canada  0-1  Romania

Cosmos Arena

 C. Budescu 52'

BP:  Tătăruşanu

### Group E

#### Sunday, 24th of june

Saudi Arabia  0-0  Ireland

Kazan Arena

BP:  Al Mosailem

Chile  2-1  Portugal

Otkritie Arena

 P. Hernandez 6' N. Castillo 42'  C. Ronaldo 11'

BP:  N. Castillo

#### Thursday, 28th of june

Portugal  0-0  Saudi Arabia

Luzhniki Stadium

BP:  Pepe

Ireland  1-2  Chile

Cosmos Arena

 S. Long 59'  A. Sánchez 42', 77'

BP:  A. Sánchez

#### Tuesday, 3rd of july

Chile  3-0  Saudi Arabia

Mordovia Arena

 A. Sánchez 24' N. Castillo 44' C. Aranguiz 52'

BP:  N. Castillo

Ireland  1-0  Portugal

Kazan Arena

 R. Brady 16' J. McClean 40'

BP:  R. Brady

### Group F

#### Monday, 25th of june

Nigeria  0-0  Spain

Otkritie Arena

BP:  Ramos

Germany  1-1  Peru

Fisht Olympic Stadium

 T. Muller 87'  R. Tapia 45'

BP:  Farfán

#### Thursday, 28th of june

Peru  0-1  Nigeria

Kaliningrad Stadium

 A. Iwobi 65'

BP:  Uzoho

Spain  0-0  Germany

Kazan Arena

BP:  Neuer

#### Tuesday, 3rd of july

Germany  1-0  Nigeria

Krestovsky Stadium

 T. Muller 16'(P)

BP:  Uzoho

Spain  2-0  Peru

Mordovia Arena

 Diego Costa 16' Sergio Busquets 73' Iago Aspas 84'

BP:  Isco

## Elimination phase

At the end of the group stage, the teams who ends between the 1st and the 3rd place in each group will be taken in a global ranking involving the 18 teams. The ranking will be decided following these rules:

1. The teams who ends 1st will takes the best ranks (1 to 6), followed by the runner-ups (7 to 12) and then the 3rds (13 to 18)
2. the top 16 is qualified for the Elimination phase:
3. The 1st round matches are equilibrate: 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15...

### Round of 16

#### Sunday, 8th of july

Chile  2-1  Ivory Coast

Donbass Arena (replace the Otkritie Arena)

 A. Sánchez 6' C. Aranguiz 17'  N. Pepe 40'

BP:  Vidal

Germany  4-1  Netherlands

Mordovia Arena

 M. Özil 28' S. Khedira 52' T. Muller 65' T. Werner 82'  R. Babel 19'

BP:  M. Özil

France  2-0  Nigeria

Kazan Arena

 A. Griezmann 57' P. Pogba 60'

BP:  Hernandez

Spain  1-0  Czech Republic

Central Stadium

 Sergio Busquets 31'

BP:  Sergio Busquets

#### Monday, 9th of july

Belgium  4-3 (Pr.)  Russia

Fisht Olympic Stadium

 D. Mertens 16' R. Lukaku 76', 95' M. Dembele 118'  F. Smolov 43', 81', 99'(P)

BP:  F. Smolov

Morocco  1-1 (4-1 Pe.)  Ireland

Cosmos Arena

 A. Bouhaddouz 105'  C. Hourihane 101'

BP:  M. Boussoufa

Argentina  1-0  Croatia

Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

 M. Lanzini 83'

BP:  Guzmán

Slovenia  1-1 (4-5 Pe.)  United States

Donbass Arena (replace the Kaliningrad Stadium)

 J. Iličić 11'  B. Wood 23'

BP:  Howard

### Quarter-Finals

#### Thursday, 12nd of july

Chile  2-1 (Pr.)  Germany

Fisht Olympic Stadium

 A. Sánchez 17' M. Diaz 94'  T. Werner 37'

BP:  M. Diaz

France  1-0 (Pr.)  Spain

Rostov Arena

 A. Griezmann 108'

BP:  Thiago

#### Friday, 13rd of july

Belgium  2-3  Morocco

Otkritie Arena

 J. Verthongen 45' E. Hazard 72' D. Mertens 83'  M. Boussoufa 7' K. Boutaib 21' Y. Ait Bennasser 90'

BP:  K. Boutaib

Argentina  1-0  United States

Volgograd Arena

 G. Higuain 34'

BP:  Mercado

### Semi-Finals

#### Monday, 16th of july

Chile  1-2  France

Luzhniki Stadium

 E. Paredes 83'  T. Lemar 16' L. Hernandez 24'  O. Giroud 54'

BP:  O. Giroud

#### Tuesday, 17th of july

Morocco  2-1 (Pr.)  Argentina

Krestovsky Stadium

 H. Ziyech 77' Y. Ait Bennasser 109'  H. Higuain 84'

BP:  N. Amrabat

### 3rd place match

#### Saturday, 21st of july

Chile  0-0 (5-3 Pe.)  Argentina

Krestovsky Stadium

BP:  J. Mascherano

### Final

#### Sunday, 22nd of july

France  2-1  Morocco

Luzhniki Stadium

 O. Giroud 48' 83' L. Hernandez 36'  Y. Belhanda 3' M. Boussoufa 14'

BP:  Lemar