FIFA Men's World Cup

The numbers are in — and they’re quite impressive. Those wondering how many people watch World Cup matches have their answers: about half the world’s population.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia was a thrilling month-long ode to the world’s game. About five months after France lifted the World Cup in Moscow, FIFA released the complete TV viewership numbers on Friday.

In all, FIFA said 51.3 percent of the world’s population watched the World Cup at some point. 

Here at The18, we pride ourselves on a wealth of scandalously useless information. We’re the ones who brought you “The Funniest Names In Soccer,” complete with Kevin Lasagna, Bongo Christ, Fabian Assman, Danger Fourpence and Yago Pikachu, to name just a few.

Today, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, marks four years to the day until the scheduled start of the 2022 World Cup. Aside from that little fact, there’s still so much we don’t know about the world’s premier sporting event.

Four years to go until the 2022 #WorldCup kicks off in Qatar 

We're counting down the days already  pic.twitter.com/ySOnUzJ5LS

The same week the USWNT booked its trip to the tournament next summer, 2019 Women's World Cup tickets went on sale on Friday. 

The World Cup was an absolute shit show for Argentine manager Jorge Sampaoli. Jettisoned into the job in May of 2017 as the savior of Argentina’s horrendous qualifying campaign, the former Sevilla boss managed to secure passage to Russia on the final match day (although Lionel Messi’s hat trick in Quito certainly helped).

However, with one armageddon avoided, the next promptly arrived — the finals themselves revealed what many had known about La Albiceleste since the cycle began: The beaten 2014 finalists weren’t very good anymore, apart from Messi.

The 30 nominees for the 2018 Ballon d’Or award were released today by France Football, and although The Best FIFA Football Awards got tongue’s wagging back on Sept. 24, the gala for the sport’s most prestigious individual prize is expected to follow in a similar vein. (Read: Luka Modric will win, denying Cristiano Ronaldo a third straight triumph.)

In news that will surprise no one, Qatar is still exploiting migrant workers in the build up to the 2022 Qatar World Cup. 

Qatar has not done enough to reform its “kafala” system, through which employees are bound to single employers, often to abusive ends, according to a recent report from Amnesty International.