2014 Fifa World Cup line-up

The 20th International Fifa World Cup 2014 will officially start on 12 June 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is the second time Brazil will host the World Cup. The opening ceremony will take place on 12 June at 17:00 (22:00 SA time) in the Sao Paulo stadium.

The stadium is the third largest in Brazil and can seat 66 000 people. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 stadiums and the first match will kick off at 21:00 (02:00 SA time) that evening. The finals will be played at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on 13 July at 16:00.

More than two and a half million tickets have already been sold since the beginning of March and Fifa has made another 180 000 tickets available from 4 July.

These are the teams that will battle it out in the 2014 Fifa World Cup:

Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon

Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia

Group C: Colombia, Greece, Côte d’Ivoire, Japan

Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy

Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras

Group F: Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria

Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA

Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, Korea Republic.

Some fanatic football fans know every team, every player and every rule of football. But some of us are not as clued up with one of the world’s most watched sports. Here is Rekord’s need to know tips and guidelines for the World Cup 2014:

• Every team has 11 players and coaches can make substitutions during the game.
• The game has two periods which lasts 45 minutes each and a half-time that lasts ten minutes.
• The players are allowed to pass on the ball in various ways, except the goalkeeper, who is the only player allowed to touch the ball with his hands.
• The most confusing rule is when a player is offside, which is simply when an offensive player is ahead of the defensive player when the ball is passed to him by a team mate.
• The main purpose of the game is to defend the goal and to score a goal in the opposing team’s goal.

Fun facts:

– Brazil has won the World Cup five times since the 1930’s.

– A ‘bicycle kick’ is when a player shoots for goal while kicking the ball over his head in mid-air while facing backwards.

– A player can run up to 16km in one game.

– South Africa hosted the Fifa World Cup in 2010.

Watch the matches on DStv Channel 203 (SuperSport) or on SABC 1, SABC 2 and SABC 3.