How to watch the World Cup 2018 (from anywhere)
Whether you’re on your sofa or out and about, here’s how to make sure you don’t miss a minute of this summer’s tournament...
IT’S COMING HOME…
Lionel Messi’s getting his tattoos touched up, Cristiano Ronaldo’s bulk-buying hair products and Harry Kane’s learning how to say: “I think you’ll find I actually got the last touch on that” in Russian, which can only mean one thing – the 21st FIFA World Cup is just around the corner. If you’re not heading to Moscow, Sochi, Nizhny Novgorod or one of the other host cities to cheer on whichever national team you happen to support, there are plenty of ways to watch the games back home – and we don’t necessarily mean sitting on your sofa. Here’s Stuff’s all-encompassing guide to never missing a moment of World Cup 2018…
HOW TO WATCH THE WORLD CUP 2018…AT HOME
FIFA has announced it’ll film every World Cup game in 4K HDR, with 37 cameras in each stadium and hopefully Dolby Atmos for the audio. England’s matches against Tunisia and Panama will be on the Beeb, while, knowing England, the almost-certainly-crucial third group game against star-studded Belgium will be on ITV. The knockout games will be divvied up equally as well, with ITV getting first pick of the round of 16 and semi-final stages. The final on 24 June will be shown on both sides, while ITV has the honour of showing the third/fourth place play-off aka the most pointless game in the tournament. If you can’t get custody of the TV, all games will also be streamed live on the channels’ respective websites and catch-up services, with the Beeb adding additional commentary options and camera angles.
HOW TO WATCH THE WORLD CUP 2018…ON THE MOVE
If you find yourself in a pub garden, on a train or at an inconsiderately scheduled wedding while there’s a game on, the wonders of 4G and either the iPlayer or ITV Hub app mean you don’t have to miss a second of the action. All games shown live on TV will be available online, so as long as you can get decent signal (or the Wi-Fi password, but maybe don’t ask the bride for it) you should be able to tune in. Of course, if that’s not possible, there’s always the old radio tucked inside your sleeve job, with live commentary of the games available on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra.
HOW TO WATCH THE WORLD CUP 2018…ON YOUR COMMUTE
Only got time to catch up with the previous day’s matches on your way into work? Both channels will upload highlights of their games to their respective websites and YouTube channels, with the Beeb telling Stuff that they’d be there “within minutes” of the ref blowing the final whistle, while ITV will also put together a highlights package at the end of each matchday. While you’re absent-mindedly scrolling through your Twitter timeline on the way home, ITV will also use its @itvfootball account to post videos of every goal, penalty save, red card and any other important action from its televised games, while the BBC will post daily World Cup stories on Snapchat and Instagram. FIFA’s own YouTube channel and app will also no doubt feature clips throughout the tournament.
HOW TO WATCH THE WORLD CUP 2018…AT WORK
With all games streamed live online, you don’t have to lug a TV into your workplace and find somewhere to hide it from your boss if you want to watch Denmark vs Australia on a Thursday afternoon, but you might still need to keep your wits about you if you’re going to avoid getting busted. Chrome has an extension that should do the job. PanicButton installs an icon in the top corner (or to use the football parlance: top bins) of your browser and collapses any open tabs with a click (or by hitting a designated keyboard shortcut), leaving you with a slightly suspiciously blank screen. To get around that, you can set a Safe Page that it’ll revert to, your company’s website, for example, or a page on the best presents to buy your boss, which should throw any suspicious jobsworth off the scent.
HOW TO WATCH THE WORLD CUP 2018…FROM OUTSIDE THE UK
Most European countries will have games on free-to-air, particularly those involving the national team of whichever country you’re in, but even the more obscure games shouldn’t be hard to find. Even Italy has all games on terrestrial TV, despite the Azzurri not qualifying for the first time since 1958. America’s USMNT (United States Men’s National Team) haven’t qualified either, but if you’re Stateside during the tournament, 38 games will be shown live on Fox, with the rest on Fox Sports 1. The whole lot will also be streamed online via Fox Sports Go and on fuboTV. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Australia’s SBS will stream a daily analysis show on Twitter called #WorldGameLive, although if you try to watch that here it’ll obviously be upside down.
