2018 FIFA World Cup

The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st World Cup, a quadrennial international men's national team competition in association football. It was held in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018, and featured 31 teams who had qualified through continental qualification play in addition to Russia, who qualified automatically as hosts.

Germany entered as the defending champions and advanced to the finals via their record fifth consecutive semifinal appearance. In a wild final that required added time, Germany defeated Colombia 3-2 to become only the third side, and the first in nearly sixty years, to successfully defend a World Cup title and made Joachim Low the second manager in history to win two World Cups after Vittorio Pozzo. The win automatically qualified Germany for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.

The tournament was noted for its grim play, setting a disciplinary record of yellow and red cards. A record 39 players were sent off. Colombia ended up being the only team to not be shown a red card at least once and as such won the FIFA Fair Play award by default for a second straight tournament. Fourth-place Uruguay had a record five players thrown out, four of which happened during the group stage with two sent off during the opening 1-0 loss to Spain.

Knockout Round
Round of 16

30 June 2018

USA 1 - 1 Italy (USA wins 5-4 on penalties)

30 June 2018

Germany 1 - 0 France

1 July 2018

Chile 2 - 0 Costa Rica

1 July 2018

Colombia 1 - 0 Ecuador

2 July 2018

Wales 1 - 1 Belgium (Belgium wins 4-2 on penalties)

2 July 2018

Spain 1 - 2 Mexico (a.e.t.)

3 July 2018

Brazil 4 - 0 Korea Republic

3 July 2018

Austria 0 - 2 Uruguay

Quarterfinals

6 July 2018

Germany 3 - 2 USA (a.e.t.)

6 July 2018

Belgium 0 - 0 Mexico (Belgium wins 5-4 on penalties)

7 July 2018

Chile 0 - 1 Colombia

7 July 2018

Brazil 1 - 1 Uruguay (Uruguay wins 4-3 on penalties)

Semifinals

10 July 2018

Germany 1 - 0 Belgium

11 July 2018

Colombia 2 - 1 Uruguay

Third Place Match

14 July 2018

Belgium 2 - 0 Uruguay (a.e.t.)

Final

See: 2018 FIFA World Cup Final

15 July 2018

Germany 3 - 2 Colombia (a.e.t.)

Goalscorers
Both James Rodriguez and Thomas Müller scored 7 goals, only the second time that two players both hit that mark in the same World Cup. To break the tie, assists were taken into consideration - James had one assist to Marles Moreno in the quarterfinal match against Chile while Müller had none the entire tournament, thus handing Rodriguez the Golden Boot for the second tournament in a row (he would also win the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.) A total of 147 goals were scored in this tournament, or an average of 2.3 per match, and were scored by 70 different players. Germany scored 19 goals in total, the fourth straight time they were the top scoring team and breaking their record of 18 goals from 2014. Germany's 19 goals were the most by any side since Brazil scored the same number in 1970.

7 Goals 6 Goals 5 Goals 4 Goals 3 Goals 2 Goals 1 Goal Own Goals
 * James Rodriguez (Colombia)
 * Thomas Müller (Germany)
 * Neymar (Brazil)
 * Eden Hazard (Belgium)
 * Ciro Immobile (Italy)
 * Diego Rolán (Uruguay)
 * David Alaba (Austria)
 * Enner Valencia (Ecuador)
 * Mario Götze (Germany)
 * Javier Hernandez (Mexico)
 * Alexis Sanchez (Chile)
 * Eduardo Vargas (Chile)
 * Marles Moreno (Colombia)
 * Julian Draxler (Germany)
 * Toni Kroos (Germany)
 * Alessandro Florenzi (Italy)
 * Abel Hernandez (Uruguay)
 * Gareth Bale (Wales)
 * Angelo Henriquez (Chile)
 * Robbie Kruse (Australia)
 * Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium)
 * Oscar (Brazil)
 * Joel Campbell (Costa Rica)
 * Milan Badelj (Croatia)
 * Paul Pogba (France)
 * Anthony Martial (France)
 * Jesús Corona (Mexico)
 * Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
 * Oleg Shatov (Russia)
 * Juraj Kucka (Slovakia)
 * Son Heung-min (South Korea)
 * Pedro (Spain)
 * Breel Embolo (Switzerland)
 * Christian Pulisic (United States)
 * Edinson Cavani (Uruguay)
 * Aaron Ramsey (Wales)
 * Sofiane Feghouli (Algeria)
 * Matthew Leckie (Australia)
 * Alessandro Schöpf (Austria)
 * Adnan Januzaj (Belgium)
 * Felipe Anderson (Brazil)
 * Philippe Coutinho (Brazil)
 * Malcom (Brazil)
 * Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon)
 * Carlos Gruezo (Ecuador)
 * Juan Fernando Quintero (Colombia)
 * Celso Borges (Costa Rica)
 * Luka Modric (Croatia)
 * Antoine Griezmann (France)
 * Harry Kane (England)
 * Mesut Ozil (Germany)
 * Leroy Sané (Germany)
 * Jordan Ayew (Ghana)
 * Christian Atsu (Ghana)
 * Ricardo Improta (Italy)
 * Lorenzo Insigne (Italy)
 * Shinji Kagawa (Japan)
 * Musa (Nigeria)
 * Renato Sanches (Portugal)
 * Aleksandr Kokorin (Russia)
 * Koo Ja-cheol (South Korea)
 * Jesé (Spain)
 * Paco Alcácer (Spain)
 * Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland)
 * Fakhreddine Ben Yousseff (Tunisia)
 * John Brooks (United States)
 * Darlington Nagbe (United States)
 * Bobby Wood (United States)
 * Gedion Zelalem (United States)
 * José Morales (Uruguay)
 * Joe Allen (Wales)
 * George Williams (Wales)
 * Tin Jedvaj (Croatia)

Assists
For the second tournament in a row, Juan Cuadrado and Toni Kroos both had the most assists, with three apiece.

Awards
Adidas Golden Ball

Golden Boot

For the second straight World Cup, the top three scorers were Rodriguez, Müller and Neymar, in the same order, the first time this occurred in World Cup history. Rodriguez was awarded the Golden Boot over Müller despite them both scoring 7 goals thanks to his one assist in the quarterfinal against Argentina, whereas Müller was not credited with any assists throughout the entire tournament. Rodriguez became the first player to win the Golden Shoe twice, and would be the only until José Morales accomplished the feat in 2026 and 2030.

Golden Glove Award

Manuel Neuer was awarded the Golden Glove for the second straight time, becoming the first goalkeeper to win the award twice.

Best Young Player Award

American 19-year old attacking midfielder Christian Pulisic was awarded the "Best Young Player Award" for his contributions to the USMNT's quarterfinal run, including the crucial equalizer in the Round of 16 matchup with Italy.