Every four years, the best national football teams from around the world come together and compete against each other in order to get their hands on the prestigious World Cup trophy.
This year's tournament will be taking place in Russia for the first time in World Cup history, and will be the first time since 2006 that it will be hosted in Europe. This summer's World Cup tournament will even welcome two new teams to the competition for the first time – Iceland and Panama. Despite these newcomers to the tournament, it seems like one of the old guard will be walking away with the World Cup trophy at the end of the tournament.
According to the World Cup 2018 odds, current world champions Germany are the favourites to lift the trophy for the second consecutive tournament. Despite the current World Cup favourites heading into the tournament as favourites, they will have to keep a close eye on nations such as Brazil and Argentina who all have a very good chance of winning it instead. All three of these nations have won the tournament at least twice in their history, with Brazil being the most successful teams out of the lot, winning the prestigious trophy a total of five times with their most recent success coming in the 2002 final where they beat Germany 2-0.
There are even teams such as England and Uruguay who have won the tournament at least once throughout their history, but are considered outside favourites for the competition and are unlikely to make it all the way to the final.
With the World Cup taking place in Russia for the first time in the tournaments history, this guide has been created with gives fans some essential information ahead of the football tournament which kicks off in a few weeks. Every national team will be traveling across the country to play in stadiums such as the Luzhniki Stadium, Krestovsky Stadium and the Fisht Olympic Stadium. These are just three of the twelve stadiums that will be in constant use for the entire month.
This guide features maps of nearby locations at just a few of the stadiums in use this summer, highlighting the nearest hotels, hospitals, restaurants, and transportation links. Vital information such as some of the common Russian phrases you might have to use have also been included. Check this guide out and take it with you this summer.
