Dressed in a patriotic red and white suit and a golden crown adorned with small footballs, Andrzej Bobowski is getting ready to attend his 11th World Cup.

While Neymar seems to be finishing his injury recovery and is set to play in Brazil's last pre-World Cup friendly at Austria on Sunday, midfielder Fred left Thursday's training in pain after a tackle.

West Ham's Argentine midfielder Manuel Lanzini will miss the World Cup after injuring a knee during training in Spain, the Argentine football federation said Friday.

With talisman Cristiano Ronaldo back in the side, Portugal secure a 3-0 win over Algeria in a World Cup warm-up match in Lisbon on Thursday.

Marcus Rashford stakes his claim to start England's World Cup campaign with a stunning strike in a 2-0 victory over Costa Rica in a friendly in Leeds on Thursday.

Ahead of the World Cup, football-loving Russians have been playing the beautiful game in all its eclectic glory.

Belgium hammered the final nail into Egypt's halting World Cup warm-up campaign with an assured 3-0 win in Brussels on Wednesday that settled some nerves among the fancied hosts, who lacked injured defensive linchpin Vincent Kompany.

Defending champions Germany will have the psychological advantage of going to the Russian World Cup finals sitting atop the FIFA rankings.

Germany top the first position in FIFA ranking. Neymar's on-form five-time World Cup winners Brazil are second, multi-talented Belgium are third, Cristiano Ronaldo's European champions Portugal fourth and Lionel Messi's Argentina are fifth.

Adidas releases an ad featuring stars like Lionel Messi, David Beckham along with other sporting figures and musicians for its “Create the Answer” ad campaign.

Brazil may be five-time winners of the World Cup and joint favourites to make it six in Russia this year but the South Americans do not yet have the right blend for success, according to the three-time World Cup winner Pele.

Cristiano Ronaldo admitted that he knows Portugal are not among the favourites in the World Cup but the five times Ballon d’Or winner is optimistic ahead of the showpiece event, claiming that nothing is impossible in football.

Eden Hazard scores one and assists another goal in a 3-0 pre-World Cup friendly win over Egypt on Wednesday that gave worried Belgium fans hope of a promising World Cup campaign.

A Russian television host has launched a campaign to support the national team at the upcoming World Cup by urging supporters to

Nothing less than winning the World Cup in Russia next month will be satisfactory despite England's failure to even progress to the later stages in recent tournaments, insist stars Raheem Sterling and Dele Alli.

A football-mad farmer in Bangladesh has unfurled a homemade German flag stretching 5.5 kilometres in a bizarre act of devotion to his favourite team ahead of the World Cup.

Iran became the first team to arrive in Russia for the World Cup on Tuesday, nine days before the opening match of the June 14 to July 15 tournament.

Egypt are hopeful Mohamed Salah will be available for the start of their World Cup campaign in Russia but the team must find a way to avoid depending too much on the striker, coach Hector Cuper has said.

Bangladesh exported fan jerseys worth $1 billion for all 32 nations participating in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in what can be viewed as

Nigeria suffer a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic on Wednesday in Austria in their final friendly ahead of the World Cup.