The Russia 2018 Football World Cup is about to kick off. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the matches, teams, dates and times.

Four years have gone by since Germany won the World Cup title at the legendary Maracana Stadium. But the magic of football returns this afternoon at 17:00 in the opening match between the host team, Russia, and a World Cup rookie, Saudi Arabia.

From today until July 15, the 32 teams will face each other in the 21st year of this sporting event, where Italy’s absence will be greatly felt.

2018 World Cup Group Stage

Özil's Germany, Pogba's France, Leo Messi's Argentina and Neymar's Brazil must first all get through the group stage (three matches, one against each group's opponent) in order to reach the knockout stages.

Along with Spain, these four teams are the big favourites and it doesn’t seem that they’ll have problems in getting rid of their first three rivals. However, pay attention to these matches: Germany - Mexico (June 17) and Argentina - Croatia (June 21)

Other interesting matches for spectators are the England - Belgium match (June 28) and all those making up Group H, consisting of Poland, Senegal, Colombia and Japan. You could say that it is the most level playing field in this stage.

Going for the second World Cup

The Spanish team is going to Russia with the aim of repeating their win from eight years ago in South Africa, where they triumphed for the first time in their World Cup history. To achieve this, they have to reach the qualifiers by showing their moves against Portugal (June 15 - 20:00), demonstrating their control of the ball against Iran (June 20 - 20:00) and defeating Morocco in Kaliningrad (June 25 - 20:00).

If, in addition to following all the matches, you are encouraged to play sports during the World Cup, remember that in our hotels in Andalusia and the Canary Islands we offer a high specialization in "stages”.