This 23rd World Cup is the biggest in history, with no fewer than 48 national teams disputing the finals in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada from June 11 through to July 19.

This World Cup has a blaugrana tinge to it too, given many players have been called up to represent their respective nations. The blaugranes will be looking to make their presence felt and we will be rounding up all the news regarding our players every day here as the tournament progresses, so why not bookmark this page and keep checking in. Please note that all times are CEST.

Thursday, June 11

The big day has finally arrived. This evening at 9.00pm, Mexico and South Africa are set to play the opening match at the famous Azteca stadium. That's followed by South Korea v Czechia at 4.00am.

No blaugranes are set to be involved, but remember that no fewer than 16 Barça players are at this World Cup. This means there will be some FC Barcelona player involvement on most days, so our blaugrana World Cup schedule can prove helpful to know when and where that will be.

What's more, there are other FC Barcelona links at this World Cup. As well as the current players, there are three coaches with a blaugrana past, such as Ronald Koeman with Netherlands, Julen Lopetegui with Qatar and Thomas Christiansen with Panama. Furthermore, there are many former Barça players, from Messi to Neymar, plus Dembélé, Kessie and several La Masia players. Unfortunately Ez Abde won't be there, as his injury on the eve of the tournament sees him miss out for Morocco.

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