2018 FIFA World Cup – Are You Ready?

Tomorrow  marks the exciting beginning of the 2018 FIFA World Cup!

Yesterday, the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo has revealed the full details regarding FIFA World Cup 2018 coverage on RTM’s free-to-air (FTA) channels. During the official launching, the Minister has confirmed that 41 out of 64 World Cup matches will be shown on RTM channels.

From these matches, 28 of them will be shown live while 13 more will be delivered as delayed telecast. Furthermore, 21 of the live matches will take place on TV1 while the rest can be viewed through TV2.

Now, everyone can watch the 2018 FIFA! Are you ready for the great ola bola moments?

Before enjoying the matches, let’s talk about some of the interesting facts behind this tournament.

#1 The Host

In case you haven’t known, Russia is the host for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. After winning the right to host the tournament, Russia has built and renovated a total of 12 stadiums in 10 cities (all of the cities are either inside or nearby the European Russia) to hold all the matches.

Here are some websites that have curated information about all the venues:

FIFA World Cup 2018 stadiums guide by MIRROR
Top 5 FIFA World Cup Stadiums by The B1M
FIFA World Cup 2018 Stadiums by The Stadium Guide

#2 The Matches

There are 32 national teams that take part in this tournament. Tomorrow will be the start of the Group Stage Match, in which all the teams are divided into 8 groups, each team will compete with the 3 other teams in the same group for the Group Stage. Then, the 2 teams that score higher in each group will advance to the 2nd Round (Round 16).

Below is the schedule of the First Matchday:

#3 Achilles the Cat

Do you remember Paul the Octopus? Back in 2010, Paul was a huge star during the World Cup season. As a refresh for you, Paul predicted winners for that year’s World Cup by choosing one out of two boxes containing food.

Paul’s accurate choices for the 2010 World Cup, broadcast live by German news channel n-tv, endowed him with celebrity status. Paul predicted the winners of each of the seven 2010 FIFA World Cup matches that the German team played, against Australia, Serbia, Ghana, England, Argentina, Spain, and Uruguay. His prediction that Argentina would lose prompted Argentine chef Nicolas Bedorrou to post an octopus recipe on Facebook.

Paul correctly predicted the outcome of the semi-final, by choosing the food in the box marked with the Spanish flag. German supporters drew hope from his incorrect choice for Germany versus Spain match in the UEFA Euro 2008 but were disappointed. The prediction led to German fans calling for Paul to be eaten. In response, the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero offered to send Paul official state protection, and the Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian called for Paul to be given safe haven in Spain.

(source: Wikipedia)

After the death of Paul, recently there is a notable successor of him, which is the Cat, Achilles.

Reminder

Dear reader, please remember that the World Cup is more about enjoying the sport than betting on teams. Therefore, don’t involve yourself in illegal gambling!

Lastly, TopNotch wishes everyone a joyful Raya holiday and happy watching FIFA!