<Tr> <Th> Venue (s) </Th> <Td> 12 (in 11 host cities) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> ← 2014 2022 → </Td> </Tr> <P> The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA . It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2 December 2010 . This will be the first World Cup held in Europe since the 2006 tournament in Germany; all but one of the stadium venues are in European Russia, west of the Ural Mountains to keep travel time manageable . </P> <P> The final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team . Of the 32 teams, 20 will be making back - to - back appearances following the last tournament in 2014, including defending champions Germany, while Iceland and Panama will both be making their first appearances at a FIFA World Cup . A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities . The final will take place on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow . </P>

When does the soccer world cup 2018 start