Germany is one of the most successful national teams in international competitions, having won a total of four World Cups, three European Championships and one Confederations Cup in 2017. At the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Germany earned the highest Elo rating of any national football team in history, with a record 2205 points. Germany is also the only European nation that has won a FIFA World Cup in America.

First game: Germany vs Mexico (17/06)

Star: Toni Kroos

Toni Kroos is a German midfielder known for his passing skills on the field. He has one of the best striking right foot in the world. He can provide deadly crosses from set pieces and right flank. He is a promising attacking midfielder.

Toni had a striking international career, saddled with the 2014 World Cup victory for his national team and two consecutive Bundesliga titles for Bayern Leverkusen. He was also included in the 2014 World Cup All-Star Team and the World Cup Dream Team.

In the same year, Kroos showed tremendous skills in the FIFA World Cup. Leading the german national team to the victory, Kroos was given the score of 9.79 out of 10 which made him the best player of the tournament.

Coach: Joachim Low

Joachim Löw has been managing the German national football team since 2006.

He used to be a midfielder in the past and started his career in FC Freiburg, then played for VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt, SC Freiburg, Karlsruher SC. Löw finished his career in Switzerland in 1994.

In the 2006 World Cup championship Germany succeeded to win all three games in their group and finished in the third position.

After the World Cup championship Jürgen Klinsmann decided not to prolong the contract and Joachim Löw became the head coach.

Group: Sweden, Mexico, Korea Republic

Russia has appeared in ten World Cups and will host the tournament in 2018. They won the first edition of the respective continental competition in 1960 as Soviet Union (of which Russia is the successor). Since 1992, the national team has achieved prominent success and gained solid reputation in the football world. The greatest result is the 3rd place in Euro 2008 shared with Turkey.

At Euro 2012 the squad made a fantastic start crushing the Czech Republic 4-1, but tied up with Poland and gave away the quarterfinal ticket to Greece.

First game: Russia vs Saudi Arabia (14/06)

Star: Igor Akinfeev

Igor Akinfeev is a goalkeeper who captains CSKA Moscow.

In 2003 he was officially promoted to the first team. A year later, Akinfeev was selected for the Russian Euro 2004 team. In 2005 he picked up a UEFA Cup winners medal. In 2005 Akinfeev was named the footballer of the year in the Russian Premier League. During his 2003-2012 spell at CSKA Moscow Akinfeev clocked up over 230 appearances.

He was also called up to the Russian Euro 2012 squad. From 2004 to 2012 Akinfeev won over 50 international caps for the Russia national football team.

Coach: Stanislav Cherchesov

Stanislav Cherchesov is a Russian professional football coach and a former international goalkeeper. Cherchesov spent most of his playing career at Spartak Moscow and Tirol Innsbruck, featuring also for Lokomotiv Moscow and German side Dynamo Dresden. He was called up to the Russia national team for the 1994 and 2002 World Cups and for the UEFA Euro 1996.

Cherchesov started out his coaching career with FC Kufstein and Wacker Tirol. In the 2007/08, he ruled the roost at Spartak Moscow and in the 2010/11 campaign was at the helm of FC Zhemchuzhina-Sochi.

From September 2011 to June 2013 Stanislav Cherchesov was in charge of Terek Grozny from the Russian Premier League.

Group: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay.

Commonly referred to as La Roja (The Red One), La Furia Roja (The Red Fury), La Furia Española (The Spanish Fury) or simply La Furia (The Fury), Spain became a member of FIFA in 1904 even though the Spanish Football Federation was first established in 1909. Since then, the Spanish national team has participated in a total of 14 of 20 FIFA World Cups and 10 of 15 UEFA European Championships.

Between November 2006 and June 2009, Spain went undefeated for a record of 35 consecutive matches before their upset loss to the United States. The team’s achievements have led many commentators, experts and former players to consider the 2010 and 2012 Spanish team among the best ever international teams in world football.

First game: Spain vs Portugal (15/06)

Star: Sergio Ramos

Internationally, Ramos represented the Spanish national team at three World Cups and three European Championships. He won the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro in 2008 and 2012. He made his first appearance at the age of 18 and, in 2013, he became the nation’s youngest player to ever reach 100 caps. He is the nation’s second-most capped player. Sergio Ramos is regarded by many as one of the best defenders in the world. He was named to the FIFPro World XI eight times, which is a record for a any defender. Ramos was named La Liga’s Best Defender four times.

Coach: Julen Lopetegui

Julen Lopetegui Argote is a former goalkeeper who is now the manager of the spainish national team. He played 149 games in La Liga over 11 seasons, appearing in the competition for Real Madrid, Logroñés, Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano. He added 168 matches in Segunda División with three clubs, and represented Spain at the 1994 World Cup.

Lopetegui started working as a manager in 2003, where he spent several years in charge of Spain’s youth teams, leading the under-19 and under-21 sides to European titles.

Group: Portugal, Morocco, IR Iran.

Known as Les Bleus (The Blues), France experienced much of its success in three major eras: in the 1950s, 1980s, and late 1990s/early 2000s respectively, which resulted in numerous major honours. Under the leadership of Didier Deschamps and the three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Zinedine Zidane, France won the FIFA World Cup in 1998. Two years later, the team triumphed at UEFA Euro 2000. They also won the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003, and reached the 2006 FIFA World Cup final, being defeated by Italy. In 2016, France hosted the UEFA Euro 2016 final where they lost 1–0 to Portugal in extra time.

First game: France vs Australia (16/06)

Star: Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann is a professional footballer who plays for the french national team as well as for the Spanish club Atletico Madrid. He was an aspiring footballer since early years. Sadly, his genetics didn’t allow him to grow and he was rejected by many leading clubs youth programmes. However, in 2005 he was noticed by several major clubs, including the French professional club Real Sociedad, while playing for the local club Montpellier. In the 2009-10 season, he made his debut for Sociedad. Following four successful seasons at Real Sociedad, Antoine finally made his move to Atletico Madrid in July 2014. For his national senior team, Antoine played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Euro 2016. At the latter, he got the Golden Boot award for being the leading goal scorer in the tournament.

Coach: Didier Deschamps

Didier Claude Deschamps is a retired footballer and the current manager of the France national team. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs such as Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea and Valencia. Nicknamed “the water-carrier”, by former France teammate Eric Cantona, Deschamps was an intelligent and hard-working defensive midfielder who excelled at winning back possession and also stood out for his leadership throughout his career.

Group: Australia, Peru, Denmark.

Portugal’s first participation in a major tournament finals, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, saw a team featuring famed striker Eusébio finish in third place. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals were in 1986 and 2002, going out in the first round both times. At Euro 2016, Portugal won its first ever major trophy, defeating France after extra time, with the winning goal scored by Eder. With the win, Portugal qualified and made its first appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup, where they finished third.

First game: Portugal vs Spain (15/06)

Star: Cristiano Ronaldo

By age 22, he had already received Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations and at age 23, he won his first Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.

Cristiano Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015

Top goal scorer in the 21st century with 512 or something goals, Cristiano is one of the best, football world has ever seen.

His sustained performance has enabled him to break numerous records for goal scoring and has been named FIFA player of the year (Ballon d’Or) five times.

Coach: Fernando Santos

Fernando Santos is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a defender, and who is now the manager of the portuguese national team.

Santos managed Portugal’s big three (Benfica, Sporting and Porto), winning five major titles with Porto.

In 2014, Santos was chosen as the new manager of the portuguese national team, after Paulo Bento. 

Two years later, in the Euro 2016, after three group stage draws that enabled group stage qualification as third, Fernando Santos led Portugal to its first-ever international conquest, after defeating France in the Finals.

Group: Spain, Morocco, IR Iran.

Ranking 5th on Fifa’s Ranking the Belgium team may be the bitter surprise for the rest of the national teams. Worldwide pundits start giving some credit to the Belgium squad a few years ago, but so far they failed to prove their dominance on a top competition field.

Their best performance on the world cup competition was the 4th place and that was more than 30 years ago.

Qualification was smooth – Belgium finished top of Group H, winning nine games and drawing one – and Roberto Martinez’s men have a relatively straightforward group, featuring Panama, Tunisia and, of course, England…

First game: Belgium vs Panama (18/06).

Star: Kevin De Bruyne

There are some genuinely world-class players in Belgium’s pool of talent, and Kevin De Bruyne heads the list. The Manchester City man has developed into a truly brilliant central midfielder under Pep Guardiola’s management, and will be central to any hopes Belgium may have of winning the World Cup. He actually claimed to at least be considered in the golden ball award. Ambitious…hein ?

Elsewhere, Eden Hazard has endured a difficult season at club level, with Chelsea appearing likely to miss out on a top-four finish, but his dribbling ability is unmatched in England, and he can kill teams with one slaloming run. Speedy, skilful and a master at both creating and scoring goals, Hazard is one of the most exciting forwards in world football. The Chelsea star served up six goals and five assists during Belgium’s impressive
qualifying campaign.

Coach: Roberto Martinez
The former Everton and Swansea coach was a somewhat surprising candidate to replace Marc Wilmots in 2016, having coached solely at club level in England, but the Spaniard guided an unbeaten Belgium side to the finals. Russia 2018 will represent Martinez’s first appearance at a FIFA

Group: Belgium, Tunisia, England and Panama

Ice…Land – The Euro 2016 Cinderella returns to the big stages.

What heroes Iceland were: brave, organised, superb. They have established themselves as the greatest story of Euro 2016 and it feels almost like a trick of the imagination that it is only four years since they were ranked 133rd in the world. Knocking-out England they got themselves onto the quarter-finals losing to the finalist France.

First-time in the World Cup, a team made out of 334,252 inhabitants (the smallest country by population ever to qualify) will fight hard to shock the football world once again. Will you place your scores in their favor?

First game: Iceland vs Argentina (16/06)

Star: GYLFI SIGURÐSSON
Iceland’s talismanic midfield playmaker has been named his country’s footballer of the year for the last five years running. Sigurdsson supplied four goals and as many assists in the team’s Russia 2018 qualifying campaign. This season dressing the Everton jersey he made 24 appearances scoring 4 goals in the Premier

Coach: Heimir Hallgrímsson

A former dentist who previously served as joint-head coach with Lars Lagerback, Hallgrimsson has overseen Iceland’s remarkable rise. Having led the team with Lagerback at UEFA EURO 2016, he was in sole charge as they reached a first World Cup. This guy has the perfect curriculum to surprise everyone, any football achievement whatsoever.

Group: Argentina, Nigeria and Croatia