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Start and end date of FIFA World Cup 2018
The 21st edition of FIFA World Cup will be hosted in Russia. On 2nd December 2010, Russia won the right to host the 2018 football world cup in second round of voting. Their other competitors to host this tournament were Spain / Portugal, Belgium / Netherlands and England. Russia won nine votes in first round and got thirteen votes in second round. Continue your reading for start and date of 2018 FIFA World Cup football competition.
2018 FIFA World Cup Start and End Date
Start Date: 14 June 2015
End Date: 15 July 2018
This means the competition will run for 32 days from June to July in 2018. Tournament format will be the same as adopted in that of 2014.
The president of Union of European Football Association [UEFA] proposed that the World Cup should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams, being groups of five instead of four. While, the Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said Russia is “preparing on the basis that 32 teams will be taking part.” About this proposal, the president Sepp Blatter’s comments that Africa and Asia deserve more spots in the World Cup finals.
Qualification round for the finals will begin from 2015. 208 national football teams will participate in this qualification round out of which 31 will get the ticket of Russia. Being host nation, Russia already qualified for the finals of 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Qualifying matches for AFC and CONCACAF associations will start in March 2015, before the qualifying draw. The draw will take place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg on 25 July 2015.
Host nation Russia revealed the name of hosting cities which are: Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavi, Sochi, Saransk, Samara, Saint Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Krasnodar, Kazan, Kaliningrad. On 29th of September 2012, the final choice of hosting cities was announced. About 11 cities and 12 football stadiums will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
