All Information about Fifa Worldcup like Schedule, apps, and channels will be shared in this article.
It’s time for the FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Russia this year. Four years have passed since we were able to call ourselves FIFA World Cup champions after we were able to beat Argentina in extra time in the World Cup final at the time-honored Maracanã Stadium. Götzes World Cup goal, but also the legendary 7: 1 against hosts Brazil in the semifinals are unforgotten, but both counts nothing, if it starts on 14 June in Russia for all teams back to zero.
In the run-up much discussion was going on about this tournament. It is about the award of the World Cup to Russia, because the country is indeed for several reasons international criticism, but sometimes also to other construction sites such as our Turkish -born players Özil and Gündogan after their “jersey gate” with Erdogan ,
All in all, I feel that interest in football has generally suffered in general, which is largely due to the commercialization of sport. Especially in Germany (introduction of the Monday games, for the first time transfers to Eurosport) it has become more complicated to follow the league, transfer fees for football stars explode and some more busy the fan.
Even at this World Cup, I have the feeling that the anticipation is not the same as in 2014, even though there was also the usual criticism of our team and even then the host Brazil was not undisputed. This may be due to the situation in football, to Russia or perhaps also to the currently somewhat heated mood (politically, socially) in one’s own country.
All this, however, we will now brush aside for this post and focus on the sport. First of all, we want to tell you when you can follow the games, where you can find out about the tournament in the net, which apps we recommend to you and much more. Maybe we’ll have a little bit of footballing fun, before the ball rolls on Thursday.
The tournament: numbers, facts, dates of the German team
Kick-off times:
As already mentioned, it starts on the 14th of June, the end is on the 15th of July, so the fun is back for almost exactly one month. The opening match will be played by Russia, who face outsiders Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. At 17 o’clock is kick-off, but there is still before 16 clock nor the obligatory opening ceremony, in which, among others, Robbie Williams will be a guest.
17 o’clock is a kick-off time, which you can get used to already: The games of the first two game days are each kicked off at 14, 17 and 20 o’clock of our time, so there are three matches per day. An exception is the first Saturday of the tournament, where there are four games, which are started at 12, 15, 18 and 21 o’clock.
The last group matches will be played simultaneously again because of the equal opportunities, and there will be four matches per day: The first two matches will be kicked off at 4 pm and the evening duels will take place at 8 pm. These two kick-off times will then be retained for the KO games, the finals on 15 July will be kicked off again at 17 o’clock.
Dates of the German team (including the possible knockout games, if you win the group and reach the final):
- June 17, 17 clock: Germany – Mexico
- June 23, 8 pm: Germany – Sweden
- June 27, 4 pm: South Korea – Germany
… and in case of group victory:
- 03. July, 16 clock – Round of 16: Germany – Second Group E (Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia)
- 07. July 16 clock – Quarterfinals: Winner eighth finals 8 (winner Group H – Second Group G) – Germany
- July 11, 8 pm – Semifinals: Winners quarterfinal 4 – Germany
- 15 July 17 clock – Final: Winner Semifinals 1 – Germany
Should Germany actually win the group (which I currently do not even run out 100%), you could probably evade Brazil in the second round – Switzerland would be there as a possible opponent. There could be a reunion with England, Belgium or Poland in the next round. Although it is almost pure Kaffeesatzlesen, but in the semifinals, we could expect an old acquaintance with Argentina, which has now really several bills open with Germany. On a possible final opponent, should you be able to clear all these chunks out of the way, I may not commit myself yet. Here could lurk names such as France, Brazil, Spain or England. Somehow I have the feeling that this year England could come surprisingly far,
The teams / groups:
For the tournament in Russia, 32 teams from the 211 federations registered with FIFA have qualified. The qualification was played among 208 associations (Russia are automatically qualified as hosts, Zimbabwe and Indonesia were suspended by FIFA). The following teams are sorted according to groups:
Group A: Russia, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Egypt
Group B: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran
Group C: France, Denmark, Peru, Australia
Group D: Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria, Iceland
Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Costa Rica
Group F: Germany, Sweden, Mexico, South Korea
Group G: England, Belgium, Panama, Tunisia
Group H: Poland, Colombia, Japan, Senegal
For the first time since 1958, the four-time world champion Italy could not qualify for the finals in Russia and with the Netherlands is missing another top team, which last missed a World Cup tournament in 2002. For the national teams of Panama and Iceland (which could cause a sensation at the European Championships 2016) it is the first participation ever.
The venues:
Overall, this World Cup will be played in 12 stadiums, of which three stadiums were rebuilt on the occasion of the World Cup. The other nine arenas have been completely rebuilt for the tournament. The venues at a glance, sorted by size and with Wikipedia links:
- Olympic Stadium Luzhniki , Moscow, 81,000 spectators
- St. Petersburg Stadium , Saint Petersburg, 67,000 spectators
- Sochi Olympic Stadium , Sochi, 48,000 spectators
- Volgograd Arena , Volgograd, 45,568 spectators
- Spartak Stadium , Moscow, 45,360 spectators
- Kazan Arena , Kazan, 45,105 spectators
- Mordowia Arena , Saransk, 45,015 spectators
- Rostov Arena , Rostov-on-Don, 45,000 spectators
- Cosmos Arena , Samara, 44,918 spectators
- Nizhny Novgorod Stadium , Nizhny Novgorod, 44.899 spectators
- Central Stadium , Yekaterinburg, 35,696 spectators
- Kaliningrad Stadium , Kaliningrad, 35,212 spectators
Except for the central stadium in Yekaterinburg, all stadiums are located in the European part of Russia. The German team will also see some of these stadiums: The group matches take place in Moscow (Luzhniki Stadium), Sochi and Kazan. If I’m right with my tips, then also St. Petersburg and Samara would be added, before in further victories in the semifinals and in the final again in 81,000 spectators capacity largest stadium runs up to Moscow.
The World Cup on TV and on the Internet
ARD and ZDF:
I wrote earlier that it has become really tricky to follow the league clubs on TV. This will be even more fun next season with the Champions League, but we should not be interested now if we talk about the World Cup. Luckily, it’s less complicated and the viewers without pay-TV get their money’s worth. Nobody has to worry about the games with German participation – all of them can be seen on Free TV.
So, as you are used to, so you can follow all 64 games in the ARD or ZDF. At the last simultaneous group matches, the more interesting one will also be shown on one of these two channels, the other one will be on the ARD special station ONE . In the German group matches ARD and ZDF alternate: The ZDF shows the games against Mexico and South Korea, the first, however, the match against Sweden.
Also in the KO games, the two stations alternate; since the first shows the opening match, the finale will be broadcast by ZDF. Logical that you can also follow all games online in the stream. You can see either the first or alternatively on sportschau.de the ARD offer, for the livestream of the ZDF games you look over here .
Logically, that you can also be on the road. For this you need accordingly the apps of ARD and ZDF:
Both broadcasters refrain this time to send all their reporters and experts on the trip, both ARD and ZDF report so largely from Germany and that from the joint studio in Baden-Baden. The following teams are working for the stations:
ARD team:
In addition to the moderators Julia Scharf, Jessy Wellmer, Gerhard Delling, Matthias Opdenhövel and Alexander Bommes, the first three football experts will have their say. Unfortunately, unfortunately, Mehmet Scholl is no longer involved, but with Thomas Hitzslperger, Stefan Kuntz, the 2014 World Champion Philipp Lahm and ex-Stuttgart coach Hannes Wolff, the ARD sees itself well positioned here as well.
As an outdoor reporter – as at the Confed Cup last year – Palina Rojinski in Russia will capture the mood of the World Cup. Of course, the commentators will also be in Russia. For the ARD Steffen Simon, Gerd Gottlob and of course Tom Bartels, whose “Make him – he makes him!” From the 2014 World Cup finals at the gate of Mario Götze still sounds in my ear.
I would like to mention that at the end of the ARD broadcasting days the World Cup program with Micky Beisenherz and Jörg Thadeusz will be decided. The two will be in their program “World Cup Kwartira” reminisce of the match day, serious and, of course, also humorously talk about the World Cup and welcome celebrity guests – so to speak, “Waldis World Cup Club” in good;)
ZDF team:
Oliver Schmidt, Béla Rethy, Martin Schneider and Claudia Neumann are the ZDF commentators in the Russian stadium, with Neumann (you may remember her EM campaign 2016 and the unfortunate reactions to it) celebrating her World Cup debut, is veteran Rethy already for the 7th (!) time in a World Cup finals in action.
Otherwise in the ZDF World Cup squad: Oliver Welke, Jochen Breyer and the expert squad, consisting of Oliver Kahn, Holger Stanislawski and Christoph Kramer.
Sky:
Even Sky was able to agree with ARD and ZDF and may therefore transfer some games. Exactly 25 games will be there to track, including the Germany games. The special here: Sky will be the first World Cup games in UHD transferred. Logically, that you need in addition to a corresponding Sky subscription and a 4K-capable TV. The 25 games are composed as follows:
- 15 group matches including all games of the DFB-Elf
- 4 round of 16 games and 2 quarter-finals including all matches of the DFB-Elf
- Both semi-finals and match for third place
- Final on 15.7.2018
4K fans come to a very special football enjoyment, in the Sky Stream, however, you can not look at the games, unfortunately – there remains only the public alternative. Wolff-Christoph Fuss, Marc Behrenbeck and Uli Köhler will be in action for Sky in Russia.
More World Cup offers online:
Sport1
Although the sports channel does not show any live matches of the World Cup, the tournament still has its sights fixed, of course. 45 minutes after the final whistle of a World Cup match, there will be brief summaries online, as well as other interviews and more WM video snippets . There will also be a show with “# wirfuer5 – The World Cup Show” from Monday to Friday at 1pm (from June 11th to July 6th) or 12pm (from July 9th to July 16th), which should inform and entertain daily.
DAZN:
The same applies to the streaming service DAZN , because here too they have secured their rights to show short clips with the highlights 45 minutes after the final whistle. So if you have a DAZN subscription or would like to take a free trial month, you will always find summaries of all World Cup games here.
YouTube:
Google has written a post on the occasion of the World Cup on its YouTube blog . There you can find some stats about football content on the video portal, but there are also links to channels with football tutorials.
It also refers to the official channels of FIFA and the DFB . The former provides “content around the tournament”, on the channel of the German national team you will get to see the press conferences, there are also reports from the team camp. Also on YouTube you can see the highlights of the different games from both Germany and Switzerland, it says in the blog post:
On YouTube, you can watch your favorite moments from the FIFA World Cup with selected video highlights from official FIFA broadcasters in over 80 countries worldwide. In Germany you will be able to see all the highlights once again on the channel of ARD Sportschau . SRF , RTS and RSI show the best excerpts in Switzerland.
The best apps and pages for the World Cup
Also in the year 2018 I stumbled in the search for this article still over innumerable offers with “game plans for the printout”. Is anyone actually designing game plans? So be it, explicit links to online schedules or I do not mention here in the post, because actually every offer – regardless of whether transmitting stations, the FIFA itself, prediction games, etc. – always offer on their pages and in their apps also schedules.
The apps for ARD, ZDF and sports show are already linked above – we also call other apps for the World Cup here:
FIFA
The unloved organizer of the tournament will of course have a comprehensive offer on FIFA.com for the World Cup. You will receive the obligatory game plan, information on all teams, players, stadiums and also information about historic World Cup events. Logically, that there are also apps for iOS and Android, so you’re just as well informed about all WM-relevant on the way.
KickTipp
As a representative of all the zillion tip games that are available for the World Cup, I would like to give you some kick tips . The platform is probably pretty much known to anyone who participates online in football guessing games and also for the World Cup you can of course create your own tipps or participate in the existing prediction games. For such sleepyheads like me, the app appends itself, because it reminds you on request that you still have tips to give.
I would also like to recommend you to participate in the prediction game of friend and colleague Caschy. Up to 1000 people can sing there. The first one can also pick up a fine price, but basically we all just type for the honor (and for leaving the best friends behind us ^^). Click here for the blog entry by Caschy, in which everything else is explained.
FotMob
FotMob is a very nice online offer for football fans, both in the browser and via app. Of course there is a special offer for the World Cup and if you like, you can also type in the entire World Cup here , as I have already done (see picture above).
In the app you get schedules for various leagues, live scores and per-centimeter statistics. For my taste one of the best apps for football friends.
Panini
There is hardly a way around the classic sticky pictures, especially for big tournaments. Personally, the fun with the stickers and albums over the years has become a bit overpriced, but I get into my environment that is still being collected with the greatest zeal.
Fortunately, the Italians have been offering their latest scrapbooks online for years, so that even sticky-lazy fans like me get their money’s worth. We already told you about the online album a while ago. If you do not have all players completely, you will also find codes for additional packages there, of course for free.
Read more: Panini FIFA World Cup 2018: How To Collect Online [Promo Codes]
Panini also has something for the old school collectors in the app repertoire. With the Collectors application for iOS and Android, you always have an eye on which players you are missing or which stickers you have twice.
FIFA football: FIFA World Cup
Oh, you also want to gamble in between when there is no game going on? Of course you can, because the legendary FIFA has long been available for mobile devices. Make your dream team out of your heroes and go hunting for points in leagues. For both iOS and Android, the game is basically free, but you can burn coal through in-app purchases within the game.
DFB
Whether there are also official apps from the DFB? Yes, of course there are those. Again, you are always up to date on what phase is currently in the “team”, but also in the other DFB selection teams. In addition to tons of information about teams and players, you will also be offered massive videos here.
… and finally
At the end of this again a bit longer guessed contribution, I want to spoil the World Cup again fast. Okay, actually spoiled in this case Google. There is – how could it be otherwise – from Google a lot of information about the tournament and this year we get from Google for each game also a forecast included. Which then tells you how high percentile the respective chances of winning the teams lie. This is what it looks like if you google “WM 2018” for example and select one of the following games and click on it:
There will be many more oracles to the World Cup, Google is relying on its vast amounts of data in its predictions and not on squid or other creatures – let’s see who is in the end correct.
Logical that Google delivers more to the FIFA World Cup than just game predictions. Here, too, Google has a post on one of his blogs written and lets you know as what Google search in terms of World Cup has on the pan. Of course, the game info also includes statistics, live scores and much more, which is now an old hat at Google.
But I think the idea is very nice that you can simply drag and drop the desired game onto your screen on the smartphone from the Google app or the Google search on mobile browsers. Thus, you always have the current game with the current result in view, as you can see on the following GIF:
Also, Google Trends has the World Cup a suitable offer at the start. Here you can see what terms are used in the context of the tournament, which rules and features for the game the Germans are most interested in and a lot more. You can also see that Germany is currently looking for Gündogan and Özil, which in this particular case is not related to any particular popularity or even sympathy for other players, as we all know.
The trends from Google are always a nice gimmick, but now it’s high time that the tournament is finally launched. With this contribution, you should now be well prepared. Now it only means, depending on the taste Grillgut, drinks, giant TV and black-red-golden make-up pins and then could be kicked off of me;)
