Everything you need to know about the World Cup opening ceremony | OneFootball

It’s finally here, for the next month all social engagements have to be cancelled as we will be glued to the World Cup.

But there’s just one thing standing between us and the football: the opening ceremony.

Before we can sit back and sink our teeth into tasty parts, we’ll be entertained by the likes of Robbie Williams. At least one of the tournament’s stars will be happy.

Here are a few things you need to know and a few more to look out for.

Start time and duration

The opening ceremony is supposed to begin half an hour before Russia get the tournament underway against Saudi Arabia. It’s also supposed to last half an hour.

We can’t see any problems with that, these things never overrun.

As the pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow will have to be cleared, the teams will have to come out, and the national anthems will be played before the actual football begins.

Theme song

This tournament’s official song is Live It Up by Nicky Jam featuring Will Smith (yes, really) and Era Istrefi.

In case you haven’t heard it yet you can check the song out above.

But there’s a twist: nobody has confirmed that Live It Up will actually be performed at the opening ceremony in Moscow and it’s starting to look like it could headline the closing ceremony instead.

No matter when it’s used, we actually prefer Coca-Cola’s anthem Colors performed by Jason Derulo.

Celebrities

So who is performing?

Russian soprano Aida Garifullina and Robbie Williams. Obviously.

A little Googling tells us Robbie Williams – most famous for his hit ‘Angels’ – actually has a song called ‘Party Like a Russian’. We can only assume he’ll be pulling that one out to please the home crowd.

As we said, Kroos will be buzzing.

Brazilian hero Ronaldo – scorer of two World Cup final goals in 2002 – will also be part of the opening ceremony but we don’t think he’ll be singing.

Local performers

Things got weird in Brazil with people sort of dressed as footballers being flung around.

More of the same please!

It wouldn’t be an opening ceremony without the stage being handed to some local talent.

There are going to be 500 gymnasts, dancers, and trampolinists involved in the celebration of Russian culture.

Risky scheduling

As we mentioned above, the ceremony is due to begin worryingly close to the game itself. We’re really not sure how to feel about it.

“We are happy to introduce a new format for the FIFA World Cup opening and closing ceremonies, in terms of their duration and start time closer to kick-off,” said director Felix Mikhailov.

Let’s hope he’s in control of the whole thing.

Vladimir Putin?

Safe to say the Russian president is something of a controversial figure.

We have no idea if Putin will have any involvement during the opening ceremony but we do expect to see him at the stadium.

Zabivaka

Bless you.

Just kidding. Zabivaka is the mascot for the 2018 World Cup. He’s a wolf and he has really cool orange glasses.

The opening ceremony wouldn’t be complete without him.