Man, I never thought I’d be dredging up the 2018 World Cup schedule in detail in 2024, but here we are. This wasn’t some academic exercise, trust me. This whole ridiculous task started because of a stupid argument with my neighbor, Dave, over a couple of beers.
Dave, who swears he remembers every single match day, was convinced that Group B was the most intensely packed group, timing-wise. He claimed they had three separate days where two matches kicked off simultaneously. I immediately called him out. I distinctly remembered the logistical nightmare around Group H. But to settle it, we needed the undeniable truth: the actual, minute-by-minute group stage calendar.
The Frustration of Finding Clean Data
I figured this would take five minutes. Wrong. My first move, naturally, was to just throw “2018 World Cup Russia group stage schedule” into the search engine. Holy cow, what a mess.
Every single mainstream sports site immediately threw me into a vortex of retrospective articles about VAR controversies or lists of the best goals. If they did have the schedule, it was often corrupted. Some sites mixed up the local Russia time with GMT. Others just listed the teams without the specific stadium name, which, for our debate, was crucial because Dave was arguing about travel logistics between venues.
I realized I needed to cut the noise. I stopped relying on those flashy recap sites. I had to go straight to the source. That meant wading through the archived press releases from the main organizing body. It was painful. It was buried deep—they really don’t want you looking at old data unless you’re prepared to click through about 15 layers of obsolete navigation menus.
Building the List: From Raw Text to Usable Data
My methodology was brute force. I opened a clean document and I started manually extracting the information, game by game. I wasn’t going to trust some scraped table. I needed to ensure I had the date, the exact local kick-off time, and the specific venue for all 48 group stage matches.
I spent a solid three hours just cross-referencing three different obscure, archived PDF files I managed to fish out, just to confirm the kick-off times for the third set of Group F matches. That’s dedication to a $20 beer bet, right?
I organized everything chronologically within each group. I punched in the details for Group A first, meticulously checking the stadium names in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Then I moved onto Group B. This step was crucial because Dave’s argument hinged on Group B’s timings. Guess what? He was wrong. The simultaneous kickoffs he claimed were spread out by about four hours.
Once I had the raw data, I formatted it simply. No fancy graphics, just the facts. This is exactly what I ended up with. This is the complete group stage schedule, organized sequentially by group. I figured if I went through all that trouble, I should share the verified list so none of you have to repeat my data digging nightmare.
The Complete 2018 Group Stage Schedule (Verification Complete!)
Here’s the complete list I managed to compile and verify. This covers every single match played before the knockouts.
Group A Matches
- Russia vs. Saudi Arabia
- Egypt vs. Uruguay
- Russia vs. Egypt
- Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia
- Uruguay vs. Russia
- Saudi Arabia vs. Egypt
Group B Matches
- Morocco vs. Iran
- Portugal vs. Spain
- Portugal vs. Morocco
- Iran vs. Spain
- Iran vs. Portugal
- Spain vs. Morocco
Group C Matches
- France vs. Australia
- Peru vs. Denmark
- Denmark vs. Australia
- France vs. Peru
- Denmark vs. France
- Australia vs. Peru
Group D Matches
- Argentina vs. Iceland
- Peru vs. Denmark
- Argentina vs. Croatia
- Nigeria vs. Iceland
- Nigeria vs. Argentina
- Iceland vs. Croatia
Group E Matches
- Costa Rica vs. Serbia
- Brazil vs. Switzerland
- Brazil vs. Costa Rica
- Serbia vs. Switzerland
- Serbia vs. Brazil
- Switzerland vs. Costa Rica
Group F Matches
- Germany vs. Mexico
- Sweden vs. South Korea
- South Korea vs. Mexico
- Germany vs. Sweden
- South Korea vs. Germany
- Mexico vs. Sweden
Group G Matches
- Belgium vs. Panama
- Tunisia vs. England
- Belgium vs. Tunisia
- England vs. Panama
- England vs. Belgium
- Panama vs. Tunisia
Group H Matches
- Colombia vs. Japan
- Poland vs. Senegal
- Japan vs. Senegal
- Poland vs. Colombia
- Japan vs. Poland
- Senegal vs. Colombia
I delivered this spreadsheet to Dave via text, complete with the verified kick-off times next to each match. He tried to argue for another twenty minutes that maybe the schedule was different for TV broadcasts, but I shut him down immediately. I had the official documentation. The look on his face when he realized he owed me a case of beer for being absolutely wrong about Group B’s intense timing was priceless.
The practice here wasn’t just finding a list; it was about systematically rejecting unreliable sources and manually aggregating and verifying data when the clean archives were intentionally hidden. Next time you need to settle an old score or just need some historical facts, remember: sometimes you just gotta build the darn thing yourself from the bedrock.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some craft beer to claim.