Today the FIFA World Cup kicks off
For the first time, it will be held in three countries at once, and for the first time, 48 national teams will participate, virtually every fourth FIFA member.
Photo: Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images
Today, the FIFA World Cup kicks off with the match Mexico — South Africa.
For the first time, it will be held in three countries at once: USA, Mexico, and Canada. In 2002, the World Cup was held in South Korea and Japan. Now, three countries simultaneously, with Mexico hosting the World Cup for the third time (1970, 1986, 2026), the USA for the second (1994, 2026), and Canada for the first.
Also for the first time, 48 national teams will participate (since 1998, 32 teams participated). This will more than double the number of games. When 32 teams participated, there were 48 matches; now there will be 104.
Currently, all national teams are divided into 12 groups
Group A: Mexico, South Korea, Czech Republic, South Africa
B: Switzerland, Bosnia, Canada, Qatar
C: Brazil, Scotland, Morocco, Haiti
D: USA, Turkey, Paraguay, Australia
E: Germany, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Curaçao
F: Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Tunisia
G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
H: Spain, Uruguay, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia
I: France, Norway, Senegal, Iraq
J: Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan.
K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, DR Congo
L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama.
The group stage will take place from June 11 to 27.
From each group, the two best teams advance to the playoffs, as well as the eight best teams that finish in third place.
Round of 32 matches — from June 28 to July 3, Round of 16 — July 4‑7, Quarter-finals — July 9‑11, Semi-finals July 14 and 15, 3rd place match — July 18, Final — July 19.
There is a significant time difference between us and North America.
The earliest match will start at 7 and 8 PM Belarusian time, the main attractions at 10 and 11 PM: there will also be games at 1 AM, 3 AM, 5 AM, and 7 AM.
The World Cup starts today at 10 PM with a game in Mexico City between the national teams of Mexico and South Korea. Tomorrow at 5 AM — Czech Republic — South Korea, in the evening at 10 PM on Friday, Bosnia — Canada.
During the group stage, there will be three to five matches per day.
Four years ago in Qatar, Argentina won the world championship, which was also the winner in 1978 and 1986. The record for titles belongs to Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), Italy has four victories (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), Germany — three (1954, 1990, 2014).
France and Uruguay have won the title twice, Spain and England once each.
In Belarus, World Cup matches will be broadcast by the "Sport TV" channel.
In different countries — national official broadcasters. For example, in Poland TVP, Lithuania — TV3 Lithuania, Ukraine — "Suspilne" in partnership with local rights holders (the specific broadcasting scheme depends on the matches and platforms), in Great Britain BBC and ITV will share broadcasts, Germany — ARD and ZDF.