The Russia World Cup 2018 is just hours away and the excitement is palpable. The teams are arriving, England have posed for their send-off picture and the first whistle is only days away.
Here's our guide on how to watch every second of the action. From this Thursday, we will be in for a feast of pretty much non-stop football.
Last December's draw put England in Group G with Belgium, Tunisia and Panama and the good news is that all three of the games have been scheduled at sociable times. You can hear the sighs of relief from office bosses all around the country.
The full World Cup 2018 fixture schedule is included below, with timings, venues and TV channels included.
All times BST. Local times are BST +2 apart from games played in Kaliningrad (+1), Samara (+3) and Ekaterinburg (+4).
Group stages
Thursday 14 June
Russia vs Saudi Arabia (Group A) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 4pm - ITV
Friday 15 June
Egypt vs Uruguay (Group A) - Ekaterinburg - 1pm - BBC
Morocco vs Iran (Group B) - St Petersburg - 4pm - ITV
Portugal vs Spain (Group B) - Sochi - 7pm - BBC
Saturday 16 June
France vs Australia (Group C) - Kazan - 11am - BBC
What time is the World Cup opening ceremony?
The curtain for the 2018 World Cup will be raised on the tournament at 3:30pm (BST) on Thursday June 14, just 30 minutes before the opening game between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Where is the opening ceremony?
At Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium which will also host the final.
There will also be a concert held in the city's famous Red Square concurrently with the opening ceremony.
What will the opening ceremony involve?
The event will focus on a series of musical acts, with Robbie Williams headlining.
Around 500 dancers, gymnasts and trampolinists will also be performing in an opening extravaganza that will pay homage to all things Russian.
Who will be performing with Robbie Williams?
England will have representation in the opening ceremony in the form of 90s pop icon, Robbie Williams.
Williams, who helped mastermind another edition of Soccer Aid for Unicef, will perform for the capacity crowd inside the Luzhniki Stadium and millions more watching on around the world.
“I’m so happy and excited to be going back to Russia for such a unique performance. I’ve done a lot in my career, and opening the FIFA World Cup to 80,000 football fans in the stadium and many millions all over the world is a boyhood dream,” said Williams.
It’s the eve of the World Cup 2018 with the eyes of the globe turning towards Russia.
It promises to be an action-packed, drama-filled month as 736 players from 32 nations arrive for a feast of football. Brazil, Spain and Germany arrive as tournament favourites with Gareth Southgate's England heading in with plenty of hope if not much expectation. They face Tunisia in Volgograd on Monday before taking on Panama and Belgium in Group G.
The Three Lions are settling in in Repino having arrived yesterday, with the tournament kicking off in earnest on Thursday afternoon when the hosts face Saudi Arabia.
We will have all the latest news, views, pictures and video direct from Russia throughout the day as we build up to the biggest football tournament in the world.
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The chariman of a Russian parliamentary committee has urged Russians to abstain from sex with foreign fans arriving for the World Cup.
Tamara Pletnyova, who heads the Family, Women and Children Affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, told the Govorit Moskva radio station that such behaviour was likely to lead to single parent families.
“There will be girls who meet men, and then they will give birth. Maybe they will get married, maybe they won’t. But the kids will suffer, just like they suffered [after the 1980 Mosco Olympics].”
Ms Pletnyova claimed her comments were not motivated by nationalism, but suggested it was better if children were born from parents of the same race.
“It is one thing if the parents are of the same race; quite another if they are of different races,” she said. “We should give birth to our own children.”
The politician chose not to mention the use of condoms.
Russia has the largest HIV epidemic in Europe, and the highest rates of increase in the world. More than half of new HIV infections in Russia occur through heterosexual sex, suggesting a transition from more traditional risk groups is underway.
By some estimates a million football fans will arrive in Russia for the tournament. More than 2 million tickets have been sold.
