The FIFA World Cup is the biggest event for the most popular sport in the entire world. According to FIFA and Kantar Media, almost half of all people who are alive tuned in at home to watch at least a minute of one match of 2014's World Cup in Brazil. Over one billion people watched the final game.
The 2018 World Cup will take place in Russia, and many of the matches will be easy to watch in the United States (if you live on the east coast, at least). Here's our guide to catching as many of the beautiful games as possible.
What Is It, Anyway?
The World Cup is a soccer tournament where national teams compete for the world title. Each country that qualifies to participate is organized into different groups, which ascend through brackets by winning matches. This starts on June 14 and goes for a month, with the final on Sunday, July 15. This year, the United States failed to qualify, as did Italy, the Netherlands, and Chile.
But don't worry, there will still be plenty of drama. For example, the tiny nation of Iceland is making its World Cup debut—and against none other than the team led by superstar Lionel Messi, playing for his final chance to bring the Copa del Mundo back home to Argentina. Suspense!
When Does the World Cup Start?
The first match is between Russia and Saudi Arabia on Thursday, June 14 and takes place in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Kickoff is at 11 am EDT (8 am PDT).
Russia is an enormous country, and matches will take place in far-flung stadiums in Sochi, St. Petersburg, and Ekaterinburg, among others. If you want to watch a particular team, look up their group schedule. Find the match schedule, which channels are streaming which match, and input calendar reminders here, or find scores on FIFA's website.
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During the group stage, matches will be taking place between 6 am EDT (3 am PDT) and 3 pm EDT (noon PDT). Some of the early match-ups that you might want to make room for on your schedule include:
- Iceland's debut against Argentina on Saturday, June 16 at 9 am EDT (6 am EDT)
- Germany, the returning champs, facing off against Mexico on Sunday, June 17 at 11 am EDT (8 am PDT)
- England's fearless and unbelievably young striker Marcus Rashford in the first game against Tunisia on Monday, June 18 at 2 pm EDT (11 am EDT).
If you live on the west coast, you'd better have a DVR. Or you may have to resign yourself to watching a few game highlights after the fact, since only deranged people will drag themselves out of bed to watch France vs Australia at 3 am PDT.
What Streaming Service Do I Use?
For English speakers in the United States, Fox Sports has exclusive broadcasting rights and will be showing every game. If your soccer-viewing would feel incomplete without an announcer yelling 'GOOOOOOOL!', Telemundo and NBC Universo have your back.
First, you need a streaming service that shows these channels. DirecTV Now might be the easiest and cheapest one. The 'Live a Little' bundle includes both FS1 and Telemundo, and right now the company is offering a free 7-day trial period, or $25 off for the first three months. (It will go up to $35 after that). DirecTV Now also offers an app for iOS and Android devices, and you can stream the games online at DirecTVNow.com.
If you're not interested in the Spanish-language games, SlingTV carries Fox Sports and FS1 in the Sling Blue package. Sling is also currently offering a free 7-day trial period. If you think you might want to stick with a streaming service after the World Cup, Sling Blue offers 45+ channels and is cheaper than DirecTV at $25 per month. Sling also makes apps for iOS and Android devices.
You might also want to consider FuboTV. Its base package offers 85 channels for $45 month and includes FS1 and Universo. There are iOS and Android apps too. More services to consider: YouTubeTV carries Fox Sports, FS1, and Universo for $40 per month; Hulu Live TV, which carries the Fox, FS1, and Telemundo channels for $40 per month; and Playstation Vue, which carries FS1 for $40 per month.
If you really don't want to pay anyone any money, you can wait until July to use one of the 7-day free trials to stream the final game for free.
What Device Do I Use?
After you subscribe to one of these services, log in to the Fox Sports app on your streaming device. We love the Roku Ultra, but Amazon's Fire TV and Apple TV also support these services. If you don't immediately see the game you were looking for, don't panic. Check the schedule, since some games will be streaming on a different Fox channel. All of the games should be available on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports GO app.
If you decide to stream from your phone, it will be easier to watch on your television with a $35 Google Chromecast. True cheapskates—and I salute you—will avoid paying for any service whatsoever with a digital antenna, like this one, which will let you watch Fox games over the air.
You also don't have to watch all the games to enjoy the experience of the World Cup. There will be endless articles, recaps, and analysis. Our personal recommendation for podcasts is Al Jazeera's Game of Our Lives, which examines soccer through the various lenses of politics, economics, and cinema, with guests like Werner Herzog.
Finally, I have one last suggestion: Check to see if your local bars, restaurants, or movie theaters are planning on playing games during business hours. If there's anything more fun than watching soccer, it's watching soccer with fifty of your new best friends, while drinking beer at 11 am. Just a thought.
Update on June 8, 2018: Fox Sports will also be partnering with LiveLike to offer a streaming VR experience through their Fox Sports VR app (available for iOS and Android devices). Watch the games in a virtual in-stadium suite, and switch on social VR to 'sit' with either your Facebook friends or viewing partners picked at random (you can also switch this feature off). Users will also have access to pre-produced 360-degree features and watch previously-recorded tournament moments.
Update on June 13, 2018: For $50 per month, Xfinity will also be covering English and Spanish coverage of the World Cup, with access to both Telemundo and Fox. You can also watch online at xfinity.com/tv or on the Xfinity Stream mobile app. Their World Cup hub will also offer easily searchable live replays, scores, and stats.
Want to brush up on your soccer and World Cup history before the big event? I’ll be binging on Gold Stars on Amazon, which is the history of the FIFA World Cup tournaments. You can also watch this Cristiano Ronaldo documentary and email me so we can plot out elaborate conspiracy theories about how he plans on getting Spain eliminated from their group. Fox also has a docu-series called Phenoms on Hulu, if you want to learn about other exciting players in the game.
FuboTV will also be making the five Fox bonus feeds available. You can watch team feeds for each team playing (that is, choose between Spain or Portugal’s team feeds). If you buy a new Roku and activate fuboTV, you will also be offered a free month.
Are you afraid that you might miss a second of World Cup coverage because you were too busy getting sucked into Twitter threads about party fouls and which celebrity has used which plastic surgeons? Just in time for the World Cup, Twitter is debuting a host of news features designed to keep you abreast of what’s happening, such as introducing topic tabs in Explore and personalized news notifications based on things like who you follow and what you Tweet about. You can also follow accounts like FIFA’s official account (@FIFAWorldCup), Fox’s soccer analyst, Stuart Holden (@stuholden), NBC’s soccer fanatics @MenInBlazers, and, of course, regular old soccer crazies like model Rawan Bin Hussain (@rawan).
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FIFA World Cup 2018 is just around the corner and teams have already announced their 23-man squads for the big tournament. 32 teams, 12 venues, and 64 matches will see high quality international football from 13th June to 14th July 2018. World Cup also brings off the pitch attractions with footballers wives and girlfriends cheering their men on during the world cup month. Below is the list of some of the hottest wags from all participating countries and we have included at least 1 from every participating country.
Annie Kilner (Kyle Walker Girlfriend)
Kyle Walker has been with Annie Walker since his Tottenham days and she will be joining him in Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Perrie Edwards (Oxlaid-Chamberlain Girlfriend)
Oxlaid-Chamberlain has been doing pretty well both on and off the pitch having secured January move to Liverpool. He has been dating Perrie Edwards of “Little Mix” girl band since 2017.
Ruby Mae (Dele Alli Girlfriend)
Dele Alli is one of the most promising stars in English international circuit and World Cup 2018 will be his first major tournament. His stunning girlfriend will be heading to Russia as part of England wags group.
Bruna Marquezine (Neymar Girlfriend)
Neymar might not be doing particularly well in France since his move from Barcelona to PSG but he is doing alright off the pitch dating this Brazilian model Bruna Marquezine. No wonder he don’t turn up often for PSG.
Andrea Duro (Javier Hernandez Girlfriend)
Javier Hernandez has been dating Spanish TV actress Andrea Duro since his Bayer Leverkusen days and reportedly wants to move to Spain from West Ham to be closer to Andrea Duro who is reluctant to move to UK.
Anna Lewandowska (Robert Lewandowski Wife)
Robert Lewandowski is set to spearhead Poland’s attack in 2018 FIFA World Cup and he will be supported by his wife Anna Lewandowska who herself was an athlete and represented Poland.
Amal Belhanda (Younis Belhanda Wife)
Younus Belhanda is a french born footballer who represent Morroco on international level. He married his wife, Amal Belhanda few years back but we rarely see her in public eye.
Anastasia Kostenko (Dmitri Tarasov girlfriend)
Dmitri Rarasov divorced his wife Olga Buzova and within a month there were news about Anastasia Kostenko being pregnant with Tarasov child. Kostenko is a model in her native Russia.
Alexandra Ivarsdottir (Gylfi Sigurdsson Girlfriend)
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s Iceland made headlines in 2016 Euro and we can expect some more miracles from a team with smallest population in Europe. Sigurdsson’s partner Alexandra ivarsdottir turned a few heads in 2016 Euro and she will be supporting her country in Russia as well.
Fifa World Cup 2018 Live Stream
Noémie Happart (Yannick Carrasco Wife)
Noemie Happart is a model in native Belgium and she married her longterm boyfriend Yannick Carrasco in 2017 both moved to Chine after Carrasco’s tranfer.
Fifa World Cup 2018 Game
Tugba Şahin (Nuri Sahin’s Wife)
Tugba Sahid married Nuri Sahin back in 2007.
Lorelei Taron (Radamel Falcao Wife)
Falcao is set for his last hurray at international stage this summer as he spearhead to highly rated Colombian team in 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Jessica Sterling (David Ospina Wife)
Arsenal second choice keeper David Ospina is likely to be in goal for Colombia in 2018 World Cup.
Yoo So-young (Son Heung-Min Girlfriend)
Pilar Rubio (Sergio Ramos Wife)
Pilar Rubio is a prominent name in Spanish TV and she married Sergio Ramos back in 2014 and have three children with him.
Edurne (David De Gea Girlfriend)
David De Gea has made himself first choice in Spanish national team and he will be in goal for Spain in 2018 World Cup. His longtime partner Edurne will be heading to Russia to support her man.
Lisa Müller (Thomas Muller Wife)
Thomas Muller will be hunting all-time FIFA World Cup top goal scorer record in Russia this summer while his wife Lisa Muller will be supporting her man as Germany try to defend their title.
Lena Terlau (Julien Draxler Girlfriend)
Unlike the other wags, Lena Terlau is very low key and she is rarely seen in public eye. However she do accompany Draxler on major tournaments and we can expect to see her during World Cup 2018 in German colours in the stands.
Georgina Rodriguez (Cristiano Ronaldo Girlfriend)
Ronaldo has been with Georgina Rodriguez for several years now and she gave a birth to a baby girl last year. From the looks of things, this relationship looks like long term.