it’s World Cup season, folks, which means a summer spent watching the very best players on the planet.
For those who follow the sport of soccer (yes, we are calling it that despite it being known as football around the world), you know exactly what to expect. Undiluted drama, pure cinema and narratives that even the best scriptwriters in Hollywood would struggle to muster up.
But this isn’t just a World Cup for your initiated soccer fan, this is a chance for everyone to fall in love with the world’s game. To do that, you need to understand the basics. Trust me, I know. I spent my first year at CNN trying to understand what March Madness was… I’m still not totally sure I understand it either, despite my colleague Dana O’Neil’s attempts to explain it.
Anyway, here are the answers to hopefully every question you’re too embarrassed to ask your soccer-loving pals.
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World Cup structure
Some of the world’s best players have featured and starred at the World Cup.
Some of the world’s best players have featured and starred at the World Cup. Bongarts/Getty Images
First, there are no stupid questions in this classroom, so we can start with the basics.
The sport is easy in that respect. It’s 11 players on either team at any one time. Managers can then make a total of five substitutions each during the match – to freshen things up or switch tactics and so on.
The teams play for 90 minutes per game, split into two 45-minute halves. A win gets you three points, a draw gets you one and a loss gets you absolutely nothing at all.
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This year will see the biggest World Cup on record, with a total of 48 teams vying for the one trophy. Those teams have been split into 12 groups of four teams, decided by the World Cup draw in December.
The teams in each group play each other once, meaning all nations will play a minimum of three games at the tournament. Each group is a mini-league, with final rankings based on the number of points each team gets from its three matches.
Once all the group matches are over, the top two nations from each group progress to the knockout rounds. Then, eight of the best third-placed finishers across all the groups join them. It essentially means we will have a total of 32 teams in the first knockout stage – if your team wins a group game, they’ve got a great chance of progressing into the next round.
Knockout rounds
