Russia 2018 by numbers

8 – nations to have won the World Cup: Uruguay, Italy, Germany/West Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina, France and Spain.

5 – the last five tournaments have been won by five different countries, from France in 1998 through Brazil, Italy and Spain to Germany four years ago.

5 – Brazil’s record tally of titles. Germany, whose 2014 triumph added to West Germany’s three, have the chance to equal that mark.

2 – only two countries have ever retained the trophy, though: Italy in 1938 and Brazil in 1962.

13 – Just Fontaine’s goal tally for France in 1958 remains a World Cup record.

3 – Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick in the final in 1966 is a unique World Cup achievement. It was a “perfect hat-trick” to boot – a header for his first goal, followed by right foot and then left.

17 – Brazil great Pele is the tournament’s youngest ever goalscorer, announcing himself against Wales in 1958 aged 17 years and 239 days.

2,808km – distance by road between the venues in Sochi and Ekaterinburg – both Peru and Sweden face successive matches in those two stadia, with Sweden’s coming just four days apart and Peru’s five.

749km – total distance by road covering Colombia’s three group games , from Saransk to Kazan and then Samara.

45 – Egypt’s goalkeeper and captain Essam El-Hadary will become the World Cup’s oldest ever player if he features in Russia, breaking the record of Faryd Mondragon who was 43 when he played for Colombia in 2014. 21 – this will be the 21st staging of the World Cup.