David Farnor | On 13, Jun 2018

This Thursday sees the FIFA World Cup 2018 arrive on UK TV screens, kicking off a month of football beamed into our living rooms live from Russia. 32 teams, including England, will compete to take home the World Cup, with Germany looking to defend its title against the likes of Brazil, France and Argentina. Now in its 21st year, TV coverage has gotten seriously advanced, with this year promising everything from HD and live-streaming to 4K and VR. So where can you watch the 2018 World Cup? When are the matches shown on TV? And how can you stream it in Ultra HD? Here’s our comprehensive World Cup TV guide to help.

When is the World Cup on?

The World Cup kicks off officially at 4pm on Thursday 14th June, with the opening ceremony and initial match (between Russia and Saudi Arabia). It will run for four weeks until Sunday 15th July, when the final takes place at 4pm.

Which UK channels are broadcasting it?

The World Cup is split between the BBC and ITV. BBC One and BBC Two will be airing games, with the Red Button also available to watch games kicking off at the same time. ITV 1 will be home to the majority of ITV’s matches, with ITV 4 broadcasting games kicking off at the same time. ITV will be screening the opening match, while England’s opening two games and possible quarter-final will be live and exclusive on the BBC. Both broadcasters will be airing the final.

Where can I stream the 2018 World Cup online?

Both the BBC and ITV have their own online catch-up services that will let you stream the matches live. ITV Hub (www.itvhub.com) will be streaming all of the matches, regardless of whether they are on ITV 1 or ITV 4. BBC iPlayer (www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer) will also be streaming each BBC game live, with live video also available on the BBC Sport website.

BBC Sport’s digital service will offer video highlights for every game and goal available at the final whistle. Viewers can go back ‘live’ with BBC Rewind to watch England face current group opponents Belgium and Tunisia in the 1990 and 1998 World Cups. BBC Sport’s social media channels will also share in-match updates and breaking news on Twitter, highlights from every game on YouTube, daily World Cup stories available on Snapchat, a mixture of news and video action on Facebook, plus former England star and Arsenal Women player Alex Scott will host a series of Instagram stories.

ITV Hub and the ITV Sport YouTube channel will be home to a short round-up video on every match day, including goals, funny moments, pundit comments and classic moments from previous tournaments.

Who’s presenting?

The BBC coverage will be led by Gary Lineker, with additional reporting from Gabby Logan and Dan Walker. Pundits in the studio with Gary will include Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Neville, Frank Lampard and guests such as Didier Drogba and Pablo Zabaleta.

ITV’s coverage will be captained by Mark Pougatch, alongside Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Lee Dixon, plus Eniola Aluko, and guests such as Patrice Evra, Henrik Larsson, Martin O’Neill and referee Mark Clattenburg.

Where can I watch the World Cup in HD?

Normal TV broadcasts of each match will be available in HD, and this will be standard across every match on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, BT TV, TalkTalk TV and Virgin Media. BBC iPlayer also streams content in HD. ITV Hub does not support HD live-streaming as standard.

Where can I watch the World Cup in 4K?

Sadly, neither the BBC nor ITV are able to broadcast in 4K, although you can see the World Cup in HD through their traditional channels.

However, the BBC is breaking ground for the tournament by showing 29 of its allocated World Cup matches in 4K (the games being shown on BBC One) – and, even better, in HDR too. (The BBC will use the Hybrid Log-Gamma version of HDR it invented with Japanese broadcaster, NHK.)

You will need a compatible Ultra HD TV and a high speed internet connection (at least 40Mbit/s for the full 3840 pixel Ultra HD or 20Mbit/s for 2560 pixel Ultra HD). The bad news? There are only a limited number of spaces available for each game on a first-come, first-served basis. The 4K stream will be available from the BBC iPlayer home screen as soon as programme coverage begins until the trial is full for that match.

ITV Hub does not support 4K or HDR.

Where can I watch the World Cup in VR?

All 33 BBC matches will be available through a dedicated BBC Sport VR app. The app will be available for free on Apple (iOS 10 and above), Android (Android 5 and above), Gear VR, Oculus Go and PlayStation VR. Anyone with a smartphone or compatible VR headset can open the app and find themselves inside their very own luxury private box in a Russian stadium.

If there’s a game on, they can watch from the best seat in the ground by heading over to the box’s giant viewing window and looking out onto the pitch. A range of live match stats will also pop-up from the virtual coffee table, while viewers can also switch their view and choose to sit behind either one of the goals to watch the action up close. When there are no games taking place, fans can watch a daily highlights package and other on-demand content on one of the virtual big screen TVs available in other areas of the private box.

What time are the World Cup matches taking place?

You can see our full TV guide to the 2018 World Cup below, including the date, time and teams for each fixture, plus what channel it’s being broadcast on. Search for a particular team, date or channel 4 to find a specific game.

Stage	Date	Fixture	Time (GMT)	Channel
Group Stage	Thu 14-Jun	Russia v Saudi Arabia	1600	ITV
Group Stage	Fri 15-Jun	Egypt v Uruguay	1300	BBC One
Group Stage	Fri 15-Jun	Portugal v Spain	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Fri 15-Jun	Morocco v IR Iran	1600	ITV
Group Stage	Sat 16-Jun	France v Australia	1100	BBC One
Group Stage	Sat 16-Jun	Peru v Denmark	1700	BBC One
Group Stage	Sat 16-Jun	Argentina v Iceland	1400	ITV
Group Stage	Sat 16-Jun	Croatia v Nigeria	2000	ITV
Group Stage	Sun 17-Jun	Brazil v Switzerland	1900	ITV
Group Stage	Sun 17-Jun	Costa Rica v Serbia	1300	ITV
Group Stage	Sun 17-Jun	Germany v Mexico	1600	BBC One
Group Stage	Mon 18-Jun	Sweden v Korea ReP	1300	ITV
Group Stage	Mon 18-Jun	Belgium v Panama	1600	BBC One
Group Stage	Mon 18-Jun	Tunisia v England	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Tue 19-Jun	Poland v Senegal	1600	ITV
Group Stage	Tue 19-Jun	Colombia v Japan	1300	BBC One
Group Stage	Tue 19-Jun	Russia v Egypt	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Wed 20-Jun	Uruguay v Saudi ArabiA	1600	BBC One
Group Stage	Wed 20-Jun	Portugal v Morocco	1300	BBC One
Group Stage	Wed 20-Jun	IR Iran v Spain	1900	ITV
Group Stage	Thu 21-Jun	France v Peru	1600	ITV
Group Stage	Thu 21-Jun	Denmark v Australia	1300	ITV
Group Stage	Thu 21-Jun	Argentina v Croatia	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Fri 22-Jun	Nigeria v Iceland	1600	BBC One
Group Stage	Fri 22-Jun	Brazil v Costa Rica	1300	ITV
Group Stage	Fri 22-Jun	Serbia v Switzerland	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Sat 23-Jun	Germany v Sweden	1900	ITV
Group Stage	Sat 23-Jun	Korea Rep v Mexico	1600	ITV
Group Stage	Sat 23-Jun	Belgium v Tunisia	1300	BBC One
Group Stage	Sun 24-Jun	England v Panama	1300	BBC One
Group Stage	Sun 24-Jun	Poland v Colombia	1900	ITV
Group Stage	Sun 24-Jun	Japan v Senegal	1600	BBC One
Group Stage	Mon 25-Jun	Uruguay v Russia	1500	ITV
Group Stage	Mon 25-Jun	Saudi Arabia v Egypt	1500	ITV 4
Group Stage	Mon 25-Jun	IR Iran v Portugal	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Mon 25-Jun	Spain v Morocco	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Tue 26-Jun	Denmark v France	1500	ITV
Group Stage	Tue 26-Jun	Australia v Peru	1500	ITV 4
Group Stage	Tue 26-Jun	Nigeria v Argentina	1900	BBC One
Group Stage	Tue 26-Jun	Iceland v Croatia	1900	BBC Two
Group Stage	Wed 27-Jun	Serbia v Brazil	1900	ITV
Group Stage	Wed 27-Jun	Switzerland v Costa Rica	1900	ITV 4
Group Stage	Wed 27-Jun	Korea Rep v Germany	1500	BBC One
Group Stage	Wed 27-Jun	Mexico v Sweden	1500	BBC Two
Group Stage	Thu 28-Jun	England v Belgium	1900	ITV
Group Stage	Thu 28-Jun	Panama v Tunisia	1900	ITV 4
Group Stage	Thu 28-Jun	Japan v Poland	1500	BBC One
Group Stage	Thu 28-Jun	Senegal v Colombia	1500	BBC Two
Last 16	Sat 30-Jun	France v Argentina	1500	ITV
Last 16	Sat 30-Jun	Uruguay v Portugal	1900	ITV
Last 16	Sun 1-Jul	Spain v Russia	1500	BBC One
Last 16	Sun 1-Jul	Croatia v Denmark	1900	ITV
Last 16	Mon 2-Jul	Brazil v Mexico	1500	BBC One
Last 16	Mon 2-Jul	Belgium v Japan	1900	BBC One
Last 16	Tue 3-Jul	Sweden v Switzerland	1500	ITV
Last 16	Tue 3-Jul	Colombia v England	1900	BBC One
Quarter-Finals	Fri 6-Jul	Uruguay v France	1500	BBC One
Quarter-Finals	Fri 6-Jul	Brazil v Belgium	1900	BBC One
Quarter-Finals	Sat 7-Jul	Sweden v England	1500	ITV
Quarter-Finals	Sat 7-Jul	Russia v Croatia	1900	ITV
Semi-Final	Tue 10-Jul	France v Belgium	1900	ITV
Semi-Final	Wed 11-Jul	Semi-Final 2	1900	BBC One
Third-Place	Sat 14-Jul	Belgium v England	1500	ITV
Final	Sun 15-Jul	France v Croatia	1600	BBC One / ITV

Add to Watchlist