THE 2018 FIFA World Cup gets under way today when hosts Russia face Saudi Arabia, following an opening ceremony at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.

Football’s showpiece event features 32 teams, including holders Germany, competing in 64 games over 32 days.

The 21st edition will be played out in 12 stadiums, across 11 cities, spread over 1 800 miles.

England, winners in 1966, are the only team from the home nations to qualify and start against Tunisia on June 18.

Germany, who defeated Argentina in the 2014 final, are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups since 1962, while Brazil seek a record-extending sixth world title.

The month-long tournament is expected to attract one and a half million fans to Russia and an estimated global television audience of over three billion viewers.

There are eight groups, each containing four teams, with the top two advancing to the last 16. The final takes place at the 81 000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium on July 15 (16:00hrs BST).

Who will win the World Cup?

World Cup holders Germany, five-time winners Brazil, Euro 2016 winners Portugal, 2014 runners-up Argentina, Belgium, Poland and 1998 winners France are among the eight seeded teams.

Hosts Russia are also seeded, even though they are the tournament’s lowest-placed team – 70th – in FIFA’s world rankings.

England, who have won only one of their past eight World Cup matches, are unseeded, as are 2010 champions Spain.

Germany have reached at least the semi-finals in each of the past four editions of the competition and, after being the only team to progress through European qualifying with a 100% record, are expected to be in the shake-up again. They are in Group F with Mexico, Sweden and South Korea.

“Germany will be hunted like never before,” said head coach Joachim Low. “Only we, as world champions, have anything to lose.”

How can you predict who is going to win the World Cup?

Brazil are the only nation to have appeared at every single World Cup but they have not won the tournament since 2002, while you have to go back to 1958 to the last time they won it on European soil.

Yet the Brazilians will fancy their chances, particularly as Neymar, who cost a world record £200M when he moved from Barcelona to Paris St-Germain in August 2017, has returned to action after a broken foot.

Who are the new boys?

Panama and Iceland will be competing at their first World Cup, which is held every four years.

With a population of approximately 335 000 people, Iceland are the smallest nation ever to qualify.

They will hope to repeat their exploits of two years ago, when they lit up Euro 2016 by reaching the quarter-finals in their first appearance at a major tournament, humiliating England en route.

Iceland’s first game in Russia is against 2014 runners-up Argentina on June 16.

A national holiday was declared in Panama after they qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

The Central American country – 55th in FIFA’S world rankings – boasts an experienced coach in Hernan Dario Gomez, who was in charge of his native Colombia at the 1998 World Cup and Ecuador at the 2002 edition.

There are several teams back on the world stage after lengthy absences.

Peru return to the finals for the first time since 1982, while north African nations Egypt and Morocco are back for the first time in 28 and 20 years respectively.

Will an African team reach semi-finals for first time?

However, there are some notable absentees.

Four-time winners Italy, South American champions Chile and African champions Cameroon all failed to qualify.

The Netherlands, runners-up in 2010, also missed out while the United States are absent for the first time since 1986.

Referees to get VAR help

Video assistant referees (VAR) will be making a debut at the World Cup.

The technology will be used to help officials avoid making potentially match-deciding mistakes when it comes to such important issues as awarding goals, penalties or red cards.

VAR has been trialled in some domestic English cup games this season, and has been used in Germany and Italy.

“We wanted to give the referees tools so they can make better decisions, and in the World Cup some very important decisions are made,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

“It’s not possible that in 2018 everyone in their living room knows a few seconds after the play whether a referee has made a mistake and the referee doesn’t.”

VAR was first used at the Club World Cup in December 2016, and trialled in the 2017 Confederations Cup. (BBC Sport)