title: Titanic

text: The maiden voyage began at noon, as scheduled. An accident was narrowly averted only a few minutes later, as "Titanic" passed the moored liners of the American Line and "Oceanic" of the White Star Line, the latter of which would have been her running mate on the service from Southampton. Her huge displacement caused both of the smaller ships to be lifted by a bulge of water and then dropped into a trough. "New York"s mooring cables could not take the sudden strain and snapped, swinging her around stern-first towards "Titanic". A nearby tugboat, "Vulcan", came to the rescue by taking "New York" under tow, and Captain Smith ordered "Titanic"s engines to be put "full astern". The two ships avoided a collision by a distance of about . The incident delayed "Titanic"s departure for about an hour, while the drifting "New York" was brought under control.


title: Titanic

text: After making it safely through the complex tides and channels of Southampton Water and the Solent, "Titanic" disembarked the Southampton pilot at the Nab Lightship and headed out into the English Channel. She headed for the French port of Cherbourg, a journey of . The weather was windy, very fine but cold and overcast. Because Cherbourg lacked docking facilities for a ship the size of "Titanic", tenders had to be used to transfer passengers from shore to ship. The White Star Line operated two at Cherbourg, and . Both had been designed specifically as tenders for the "Olympic"-class liners and were launched shortly after "Titanic". ("Nomadic" is today the only White Star Line ship still afloat.) Four hours after "Titanic" left Southampton, she arrived at Cherbourg and was met by the tenders. There, 274 additional passengers were taken aboard – 142 First Class, 30 Second Class, and 102 Third Class. Twenty-four passengers left aboard the tenders to be conveyed to shore, having booked only a cross-Channel passage. The process was completed within only 90 minutes and at 8 pm "Titanic" weighed anchor and left for Queenstown with the weather continuing cold and windy.


title: Titanic

text: At 11:30 am on Thursday 11 April, "Titanic" arrived at Cork Harbour on the south coast of Ireland. It was a partly cloudy but relatively warm day, with a brisk wind. Again, the dock facilities were not suitable for a ship of "Titanic" size, and tenders were used to bring passengers aboard. In all, 123 passengers boarded "Titanic" at Queenstown – three First Class, seven Second Class and 113 Third Class. In addition to the 24 cross-Channel passengers who had disembarked at Cherbourg, another seven passengers had booked an overnight passage from Southampton to Queenstown. Among the seven was Father Francis Browne, a Jesuit trainee who was a keen photographer and took many photographs aboard "Titanic", including the last known photograph of the ship. A decidedly unofficial departure was that of a crew member, stoker John Coffey, a Queenstown native who sneaked off the ship by hiding under mail bags being transported to shore. "Titanic" weighed anchor for the last time at 1:30 pm and departed on her westward journey across the Atlantic.


title: Titanic

text: "Titanic" was planned to arrive at New York Pier 59 on the morning of 17 April. After leaving Queenstown, "Titanic" followed the Irish coast as far as Fastnet Rock, a distance of some . From there she travelled along a Great Circle route across the North Atlantic to reach a spot in the ocean known as "the corner" south-east of Newfoundland, where westbound steamers carried out a change of course. "Titanic" sailed only a few hours past the corner on a rhumb line leg of to Nantucket Shoals Light when she made her fatal contact with an iceberg. The final leg of the journey would have been to Ambrose Light and finally to New York Harbor.


title: Titanic

text: From 11 April to local apparent noon the next day, "Titanic" covered ; the following day, ; and by noon on the final day of her voyage, . From then until the time of her sinking, she travelled another , averaging about .


title: Titanic

text: The weather cleared as she left Ireland under cloudy skies with a headwind. Temperatures remained fairly mild on Saturday 13 April, but the following day "Titanic" crossed a cold weather front with strong winds and waves of up to . These died down as the day progressed until, by the evening of Sunday 14 April, it became clear, calm and very cold.


title: Titanic

text: The first three days of the voyage from Queenstown had passed without apparent incident. A fire had begun in one of "Titanic"s coal bunkers approximately 10 days prior to the ship's departure, and continued to burn for several days into its voyage, but passengers were unaware of this situation. Fires occurred frequently on board steamships at the time, due to spontaneous combustion of the coal. The fires had to be extinguished with fire hoses by moving the coal on top to another bunker and by removing the burning coal and feeding it into the furnace. The fire was finally extinguished on 14 April. There has been some speculation and discussion as to whether this fire and attempts to extinguish it may have made the ship more vulnerable to its fate.


title: Titanic

text: "Titanic" received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but Captain Edward Smith ignored them. One of the ships to warn "Titanic" was the Atlantic Line's . Nevertheless, the ship continued to steam at full speed, which was standard practice at the time. Although the ship was not trying to set a speed record, timekeeping was a priority, and under prevailing maritime practices, ships were often operated at close to full speed, with ice warnings seen as advisories and reliance placed upon lookouts and the watch on the bridge. It was generally believed that ice posed little danger to large vessels. Close calls with ice were not uncommon, and even head-on collisions had not been disastrous. In 1907, , a German liner, had rammed an iceberg but still had been able to complete her voyage, and Captain Smith himself had declared in 1907 that he "could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."


title: Titanic

text: At 11:40 pm (ship's time) on 14 April, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of "Titanic" and alerted the bridge. First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the obstacle and the engines to be reversed, but it was too late; the starboard side of "Titanic" struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline. The hull was not punctured by the iceberg, but rather dented such that the hull's seams buckled and separated, allowing water to rush in. Five of the ship's watertight compartments were breached. It soon became clear that the ship was doomed, as she could not survive more than four compartments being flooded. "Titanic" began sinking bow-first, with water spilling from compartment to compartment as her angle in the water became steeper.


title: Titanic

text: Those aboard "Titanic" were ill-prepared for such an emergency. In accordance with accepted practices of the time, as ships were seen as largely unsinkable and lifeboats were intended to transfer passengers to nearby rescue vessels, "Titanic" only had enough lifeboats to carry about half of those on board; if the ship had carried her full complement of about 3,339 passengers and crew, only about a third could have been accommodated in the lifeboats. The crew had not been trained adequately in carrying out an evacuation. The officers did not know how many they could safely put aboard the lifeboats and launched many of them barely half-full. Third-class passengers were largely left to fend for themselves, causing many of them to become trapped below decks as the ship filled with water. The "women and children first" protocol was generally followed when loading the lifeboats, and most of the male passengers and crew were left aboard. In 2022, Claes-Gõran Wetterholm, an author and expert on "Titanic", argued it was "not true" that women and children survived thanks to the gallantry of men; of the last survivors escaping on the final lifeboats leaving the starboard side of the ship, he said, the majority were men. However, women and children survived at rates of about 75 percent and 50 percent, respectively, while only 20 percent of men survived.


title: Titanic

text: Between 2:10 and 2:15 am, a little over two and a half hours after "Titanic" struck the iceberg, her rate of sinking suddenly increased as the boat deck dipped underwater, and the sea poured in through open hatches and grates. As her unsupported stern rose out of the water, exposing the propellers, the ship broke in two main pieces between the second and third funnels, due to the immense forces on the keel. With the bow underwater, and air trapped in the stern, the stern remained afloat and buoyant for a few minutes longer, rising to a nearly vertical angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it, before foundering at 2:20 am. It was long generally believed the ship sank in one piece; but the discovery of the wreck many years later revealed that the ship had broken fully in two. All remaining passengers and crew were immersed in lethally cold water with a temperature of . Sudden immersion into freezing water typically causes death within minutes, either from cardiac arrest, uncontrollable breathing of water, or cold incapacitation (not, as commonly believed, from hypothermia), and almost all of those in the water died of cardiac arrest or other bodily reactions to freezing water, within 15–30 minutes. Only five of them were helped into the lifeboats, though the lifeboats had room for almost 500 more people.


title: Titanic

text: Distress signals were sent by wireless, rockets, and lamp, but none of the ships that responded were near enough to reach "Titanic" before she sank. A radio operator on board , for instance, estimated that it would be 6 am before the liner could arrive at the scene. Meanwhile, , which was the last to have been in contact before the collision, saw "Titanic"s flares but failed to assist. Around 4 am, arrived on the scene in response to "Titanic"s earlier distress calls.


title: Titanic

text: 706 people survived the disaster and were conveyed by "Carpathia" to New York, "Titanic" original destination, and 1,517 people died. "Carpathia" captain described the place as an ice field that had included 20 large bergs measuring up to high and numerous smaller bergs, as well as ice floes and debris from "Titanic"; passengers described being in the middle of a vast white plain of ice, studded with icebergs. This area is now known as Iceberg Alley.


title: Titanic

text: took three days to reach New York after leaving the scene of the disaster. Her journey was slowed by pack ice, fog, thunderstorms and rough seas. She was, however, able to pass news to the outside world by wireless about what had happened. The initial reports were confusing, leading the American press to report erroneously on 15 April that "Titanic" was being towed to port by .


title: Titanic

text: Later that day, confirmation came through that "Titanic" had been lost and that most of her passengers and crew had died. The news attracted crowds of people to the White Star Line's offices in London, New York, Montreal, Southampton, Liverpool and Belfast. It hit hardest in Southampton, whose people suffered the greatest losses from the sinking; four out of every five crew members came from this town.


title: Titanic

text: "Carpathia" docked at 9:30 pm on 18 April at New York's Pier 54 and was greeted by some 40,000 people waiting at the quayside in heavy rain. Immediate relief in the form of clothing and transportation to shelters was provided by the Women's Relief Committee, the Travelers Aid Society of New York, and the Council of Jewish Women, among other organisations. Many of "Titanic"s surviving passengers did not linger in New York but headed onwards immediately to relatives' homes. Some of the wealthier survivors chartered private trains to take them home, and the Pennsylvania Railroad laid on a special train free of charge to take survivors to Philadelphia. "Titanic"s 214 surviving crew members were taken to the Red Star Line's steamer , where they were accommodated in passenger cabins.


title: Titanic

text: "Carpathia" was hurriedly restocked with food and provisions before resuming her journey to Fiume, Austria-Hungary. Her crew were given a bonus of a month's wages by Cunard as a reward for their actions, and some of "Titanic" passengers joined to give them an additional bonus of nearly £900 (£ today), divided among the crew members.


title: Titanic

text: The ship's arrival in New York led to a frenzy of press interest, with newspapers competing to be the first to report the survivors' stories. Some reporters bribed their way aboard the pilot boat "New York", which guided "Carpathia" into harbour, and one even managed to get onto "Carpathia" before she docked. Crowds gathered outside newspaper offices to see the latest reports being posted in the windows or on billboards. It took another four days for a complete list of casualties to be compiled and released, adding to the agony of relatives waiting for news of those who had been aboard "Titanic".


title: Titanic

text: In January 1912, the hulls and equipment of "Titanic" and "Olympic" had been insured through Lloyd's of London and London Marine Insurance. The total coverage was £1,000,000 (£ today) per ship. The policy was to be "free from all average" under £150,000, meaning that the insurers would only pay for damage in excess of that sum. The premium, negotiated by brokers Willis Faber & Company (now Willis Group), was 15 "s" (75 "p") per £100, or £7,500 (£ today) for the term of one year. Lloyd's paid the White Star Line the full sum owed to them within 30 days.


title: Titanic

text: Many charities were set up to help the survivors and their families, many of whom lost their sole wage earner, or, in the case of many Third Class survivors, everything they owned. In New York City, for example, a joint committee of the American Red Cross and Charity Organization Society formed to disburse financial aid to survivors and dependents of those who died. On 29 April, opera stars Enrico Caruso and Mary Garden and members of the Metropolitan Opera raised $12,000 ($300,000 in 2014) in benefits for victims of the disaster by giving special concerts in which versions of "Autumn" and "Nearer My God To Thee" were part of the programme. In Britain, relief funds were organised for the families of "Titanic"s lost crew members, raising nearly £450,000 (£ today). One such fund was still in operation as late as the 1960s.


title: Titanic

text: In the United States and Britain, more than 60 survivors combined to sue the White Star Line for damages connected to loss of life and baggage. The claims totalled $16,804,112 (appr. $419 million in 2018 USD), which was far in excess of what White Star argued it was responsible for as a limited liability company under American law. Because the bulk of the litigants were in the United States, White Star petitioned the United States Supreme Court in 1914, which ruled in its favour that it qualified as an LLC and found that the causes of the ship's sinking were largely unforeseeable, rather than due to negligence. This sharply limited the scope of damages survivors and family members were entitled to, prompting them to reduce their claims to some $2.5 million. White Star only settled for $664,000 (appr. $16.56 million in 2018), about 27% of the original total sought by survivors. The settlement was agreed to by 44 of the claimants in December 1915, with $500,000 set aside for the American claimants, $50,000 for the British, and $114,000 to go towards interest and legal expenses.


title: Titanic

text: Even before the survivors arrived in New York, investigations were being planned to discover what had happened, and what could be done to prevent a recurrence. Inquiries were held in both the United States and the United Kingdom, the former more robustly critical of traditions and practices, and scathing of the failures involved, and the latter broadly more technical and expert-orientated.


title: Titanic

text: The US Senate's inquiry into the disaster was initiated on 19 April, a day after "Carpathia" arrived in New York. The chairman, Senator William Alden Smith, wanted to gather accounts from passengers and crew while the events were still fresh in their minds. Smith also needed to subpoena all surviving British passengers and crew while they were still on American soil, which prevented them from returning to the UK before the American inquiry was completed on 25 May. The British press condemned Smith as an opportunist, insensitively forcing an inquiry as a means of gaining political prestige and seizing "his moment to stand on the world stage". Smith, however, already had a reputation as a campaigner for safety on US railroads, and wanted to investigate any possible malpractices by railroad tycoon J. P. Morgan, "Titanic"s ultimate owner.


title: Titanic

text: The British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster was headed by Lord Mersey, and took place between 2 May and 3 July. Being run by the Board of Trade, who had previously approved the ship, it was seen by some as having little interest in its own or White Star's conduct being found negligent.


title: Titanic

text: Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and crew of "Titanic", crew members of Leyland Line's "Californian", Captain Arthur Rostron of "Carpathia" and other experts. The British inquiry also took far greater expert testimony, making it the longest and most detailed court of inquiry in British history up to that time. The two inquiries reached broadly similar conclusions: the regulations on the number of lifeboats that ships had to carry were out of date and inadequate, Captain Smith had failed to take proper heed of ice warnings, the lifeboats had not been properly filled or crewed, and the collision was the direct result of steaming into a dangerous area at too high a speed.


title: Titanic

text: Neither inquiry's findings listed negligence by IMM or the White Star Line as a factor. The American inquiry concluded that since those involved had followed standard practice, the disaster was an act of God. The British inquiry concluded that Smith had followed long-standing practice that had not previously been shown to be unsafe, noting that British ships alone had carried 3.5 million passengers over the previous decade with the loss of just 10 lives, and concluded that Smith had done "only that which other skilled men would have done in the same position". Lord Mersey did, however, find fault with the "extremely high speed (twenty-two knots) which was maintained" following numerous ice warnings, noting that without hindsight, "what was a mistake in the case of the "Titanic" would without doubt be negligence in any similar case in the future".


title: Titanic

text: The recommendations included strong suggestions for major changes in maritime regulations to implement new safety measures, such as ensuring that more lifeboats were provided, that lifeboat drills were properly carried out and that wireless equipment on passenger ships was manned around the clock. An International Ice Patrol was set up to monitor the presence of icebergs in the North Atlantic, and maritime safety regulations were harmonised internationally through the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea; both measures are still in force today.


title: Titanic

text: On 18 June 1912, Guglielmo Marconi gave evidence to the Court of Inquiry regarding the telegraphy. Its final report recommended that all liners carry the system and that sufficient operators maintain a constant service.


title: Titanic

text: One of the most controversial issues examined by the inquiries was the role played by , which had been only a few miles from "Titanic" but had not picked up her distress calls or responded to her signal rockets. "Californian" had warned "Titanic" by radio of the pack ice (that was the reason "Californian" had stopped for the night) but was rebuked by "Titanic"s senior wireless operator, Jack Phillips.


title: Titanic

text: Testimony before the British inquiry revealed that at 10:10 pm, "Californian" observed the lights of a ship to the south; it was later agreed between Captain Stanley Lord and Third Officer C.V. Groves (who had relieved Lord of duty at 11:10 pm) that this was a passenger liner. At 11:50 pm, the officer had watched that ship's lights flash out, as if she had shut down or turned sharply, and that the port light was now visible. Morse light signals to the ship, upon Lord's order, were made between 11:30 pm and 1:00 am, but were not acknowledged. If "Titanic" was as far from the "Californian" as Lord claimed, then he knew, or should have known, that Morse signals would not be visible. A reasonable and prudent course of action would have been to awaken the wireless operator and to instruct him to attempt to contact "Titanic" by that method. Had Lord done so, it is possible he could have reached "Titanic" in time to save additional lives.


title: Titanic

text: Captain Lord had gone to the chartroom at 11:00 pm to spend the night; however, Second Officer Herbert Stone, now on duty, notified Lord at 1:10 am that the ship had fired five rockets. Lord wanted to know if they were company signals, that is, coloured flares used for identification. Stone said that he did not know and that the rockets were all white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue to signal the other vessel with the Morse lamp, and went back to sleep. Three more rockets were observed at 1:50 am and Stone noted that the ship looked strange in the water, as if she were listing. At 2:15 am, Lord was notified that the ship could no longer be seen. Lord asked again if the lights had had any colours in them, and he was informed that they were all white.


title: Titanic

text: "Californian" eventually responded. At around 5:30 am, Chief Officer George Stewart awakened wireless operator Cyril Furmstone Evans, informed him that rockets had been seen during the night, and asked that he try to communicate with any ship. He got news of "Titanic"s loss, Captain Lord was notified, and the ship set out to render assistance. She arrived well after "Carpathia" had already picked up all the survivors.


title: Titanic

text: The inquiries found that the ship seen by "Californian" was in fact "Titanic" and that it would have been possible for "Californian" to come to her rescue; therefore, Captain Lord had acted improperly in failing to do so.


title: Titanic

text: The number of casualties of the sinking is unclear, due to a number of factors. These include confusion over the passenger list, which included some names of people who cancelled their trip at the last minute, and the fact that several passengers travelled under aliases for various reasons and were therefore double-counted on the casualty lists. The death toll has been put at between 1,490 and 1,635 people. The tables below use figures from the British Board of Trade report on the disaster. While the use of the Marconi wireless system did not achieve the result of bringing a rescue ship to "Titanic" before it sank, the use of wireless did bring "Carpathia" in time to rescue some of the survivors who otherwise would have perished due to exposure.


title: Titanic

text: The water temperature was well below normal in the area where "Titanic" sank. It also contributed to the rapid death of many passengers during the sinking. Water temperature readings taken around the time of the accident were reported to be . Typical water temperatures were normally around during mid-April. The coldness of the water was a critical factor, often causing death within minutes for many of those in the water.


title: Titanic

text: Fewer than a third of those aboard "Titanic" survived the disaster. Some survivors died shortly afterwards; injuries and the effects of exposure caused the deaths of several of those brought aboard "Carpathia". The figures show stark differences in the survival rates of the different classes aboard "Titanic". Although only 3% of first-class women were lost, 54% of those in third-class died. Similarly, five of six first-class and all second-class children survived, but 52 of the 79 in third-class perished. The differences by gender were even bigger: nearly all female crew members, first- and second-class passengers were saved. Men from the First Class died at a higher rate than women from the Third Class. In total, 50% of the children survived, 20% of the men and 75% of the women.


title: Titanic

text: The last living survivor, Millvina Dean from England, who, at only nine weeks old, was the youngest passenger on board, died aged 97 on 31 May 2009. Two special survivors were the stewardess Violet Jessop and the stoker Arthur John Priest, who survived the sinkings of both "Titanic" and and were aboard when she was rammed in 1911.


title: Titanic

text: Once the massive loss of life became known, White Star Line chartered the cable ship CS "Mackay-Bennett" from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to retrieve bodies. Three other Canadian ships followed in the search: the cable ship "Minia", lighthouse supply ship "Montmagny" and sealing vessel "Algerine". Each ship left with embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Of the 333 victims that were eventually recovered, 328 were retrieved by the Canadian ships and five more by passing North Atlantic steamships.


title: Titanic

text: The first ship to reach the site of the sinking, the CS "Mackay-Bennett", found so many bodies that the embalming supplies aboard were quickly exhausted. Health regulations required that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port. Captain Larnder of the "Mackay-Bennett" and undertakers aboard decided to preserve only the bodies of first-class passengers, justifying their decision by the need to visually identify wealthy men to resolve any disputes over large estates. As a result, many third-class passengers and crew were buried at sea. Larnder identified many of those buried at sea as crew members by their clothing, and stated that as a mariner, he himself would be contented to be buried at sea.


title: Titanic

text: Bodies recovered were preserved for transport to Halifax, the closest city to the sinking with direct rail and steamship connections. The Halifax Registrar of Vital Statistics, John Henry Barnstead, developed a detailed system to identify bodies and safeguard personal possessions. Relatives from across North America came to identify and claim bodies. A large temporary morgue was set up in the curling rink of the Mayflower Curling Club and undertakers were called in from all across eastern Canada to assist. Some bodies were shipped to be buried in their home towns across North America and Europe. About two-thirds of the bodies were identified. Unidentified victims were buried with simple numbers based on the order in which their bodies were discovered. The majority of recovered victims, 150 bodies, were buried in three Halifax cemeteries, the largest being Fairview Lawn Cemetery followed by the nearby Mount Olivet and Baron de Hirsch cemeteries.


title: Titanic

text: In mid-May 1912, recovered three bodies over from the site of the sinking who were among the original occupants of Collapsible A. When Fifth Officer Harold Lowe and six crewmen returned to the wreck site sometime after the sinking in a lifeboat to pick up survivors, they rescued a dozen males and one female from Collapsible A, but left the dead bodies of three of its occupants. After their retrieval from Collapsible A by "Oceanic", the bodies were buried at sea.


title: Titanic

text: The last "Titanic" body recovered was steward James McGrady, Body No. 330, found by the chartered Newfoundland sealing vessel "Algerine" on 22 May and buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax on 12 June.


title: Titanic

text: Only 333 bodies of "Titanic" victims were recovered, which amounted to one in five of the over 1,500 victims. Some bodies sank with the ship while currents quickly dispersed bodies and wreckage across hundreds of miles, making them difficult to recover. By June, one of the last search ships reported that life jackets supporting bodies were coming apart and releasing bodies to sink.


title: Titanic

text: "Titanic" was long thought to have sunk in one piece and, over the years, many schemes were put forward for raising the wreck. None came to fruition. The fundamental problem was the sheer difficulty of finding and reaching a wreck that lies over below the surface, in a location where the water pressure is over . A number of expeditions were mounted to find "Titanic" but it was not until 1 September 1985 that a Franco-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard succeeded.


title: Titanic

text: The team discovered that "Titanic" had in fact split apart, probably near or at the surface, before sinking to the seabed. The separated bow and stern sections lie about a third of a mile (0.6 km) apart in Titanic Canyon off the coast of Newfoundland. They are located from the inaccurate coordinates given by "Titanic"s radio operators on the night of her sinking, and approximately from Halifax and from New York.


title: Titanic

text: Both sections struck the seabed at considerable speed, causing the bow to crumple and the stern to collapse entirely. The bow is by far the more intact section and still contains some surprisingly intact interiors. In contrast, the stern is completely wrecked; its decks have pancaked down on top of each other and much of the hull plating was torn off and lies scattered across the sea floor. The much greater level of damage to the stern is probably due to structural damage incurred during the sinking. Thus weakened, the remainder of the stern was flattened by the impact with the sea bed.


title: Titanic

text: The two sections are surrounded by a debris field measuring approximately . It contains hundreds of thousands of items, such as pieces of the ship, furniture, dinnerware and personal items, which fell from the ship as she sank or were ejected when the bow and stern impacted on the sea floor. The debris field was also the last resting place of a number of "Titanic" victims. Most of the bodies and clothes were consumed by sea creatures and bacteria, leaving pairs of shoes and boots—which have proved to be inedible—as the only sign that bodies once lay there.


title: Titanic

text: Since its initial discovery, the wreck of "Titanic" has been revisited on numerous occasions by explorers, scientists, filmmakers, tourists and salvagers, who have recovered thousands of items from the debris field for conservation and public display. The ship's condition has deteriorated significantly over the years, particularly from accidental damage by submersibles but mostly because of an accelerating rate of growth of iron-eating bacteria on the hull. In 2006, it was estimated that within 50 years the hull and structure of "Titanic" would eventually collapse entirely, leaving only the more durable interior fittings of the ship intermingled with a pile of rust on the sea floor.


title: Titanic

text: Many artefacts from "Titanic" have been recovered from the seabed by RMS Titanic Inc., which exhibits them in touring exhibitions around the world and in a permanent exhibition at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. A number of other museums exhibit artefacts either donated by survivors or retrieved from the floating bodies of victims of the disaster.


title: Titanic

text: On 16 April 2012, the day after the 100th anniversary of the sinking, photos were released showing possible human remains resting on the ocean floor. The photos, taken by Robert Ballard during an expedition led by NOAA in 2004, show a boot and a coat close to "Titanic" stern which experts called "compelling evidence" that it is the spot where somebody came to rest, and that human remains could be buried in the sediment beneath them. The wreck of the "Titanic" falls under the scope of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This means that all states party to the convention will prohibit the pillaging, commercial exploitation, sale and dispersion of the wreck and its artefacts. Because of the location of the wreck in international waters and the lack of any exclusive jurisdiction over the wreckage area, the convention provides a state co-operation system, by which states inform each other of any potential activity concerning ancient shipwreck sites, like the "Titanic", and co-operate to prevent unscientific or unethical interventions.


title: Titanic

text: Submersible dives in 2019 have found further deterioration of the wreck, including loss of the captain's bathtub. Between 29 July and 4 August 2019, a two-person submersible vehicle that was conducting research and filming a documentary crashed into the shipwreck. EYOS Expeditions executed the sub dives. It reported that the strong currents pushed the sub into the wreck leaving a "red rust stain on the side of the sub." The report did not mention if the "Titanic" sustained any damage.


title: Titanic

text: After the disaster, recommendations were made by both the British and American Boards of Inquiry stating that ships should carry enough lifeboats for all aboard, mandated lifeboat drills would be implemented, lifeboat inspections would be conducted, etc. Many of these recommendations were incorporated into the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea passed in 1914. The convention has been updated by periodic amendments, with a completely new version adopted in 1974. Signatories to the Convention followed up with national legislation to implement the new standards. For example, in Britain, new "Rules for Life Saving Appliances" were passed by the Board of Trade on 8 May 1914 and then applied at a meeting of British steamship companies in Liverpool in June 1914.


title: Titanic

text: Further, the United States government passed the Radio Act of 1912. This Act, along with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, stated that radio communications on passenger ships would be operated 24 hours a day, along with a secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. Also, the Radio Act of 1912 required ships to maintain contact with vessels in their vicinity as well as coastal onshore radio stations. In addition, it was agreed in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea that the firing of red rockets from a ship must be interpreted as a sign of need for help. Once the Radio Act of 1912 was passed, it was agreed that rockets at sea would be interpreted as distress signals only, thus removing any possible misinterpretation from other ships.


title: Titanic

text: Finally, the disaster led to the formation and international funding of the International Ice Patrol, an agency of the United States Coast Guard that to the present day monitors and reports on the location of North Atlantic Ocean icebergs that could pose a threat to transatlantic sea traffic. Coast Guard aircraft conduct the primary reconnaissance. In addition, information is collected from ships operating in or passing through the ice area. Except for the years of the two World Wars, the International Ice Patrol has worked each season since 1913. During the period, there has not been a single reported loss of life or property due to collision with an iceberg in the patrol area. In 1912, the Board of Trade chartered the barque to act as a weather ship in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, keeping a look-out for icebergs. A Marconi wireless telegraph was installed to enable her to communicate with stations on the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland.


title: Titanic

text: "Titanic" has gone down in history as the ship that was called unsinkable. For more than 100 years, she has been the inspiration of fiction and non-fiction. She is commemorated by monuments for the dead and by museums exhibiting artefacts from the wreck. Just after the sinking, memorial postcards sold in huge numbers together with memorabilia ranging from tin candy boxes to plates, whiskey jiggers, and even black mourning teddy bears. The sinking inspired many ballads such as "The Titanic". Several survivors wrote books about their experiences, but it was not until 1955 that the first historically accurate book – "A Night to Remember" – was published.


title: Titanic

text: The first film about the disaster, "Saved from the Titanic", was released only 29 days after the ship sank and had an actual survivor as its star—the silent film actress Dorothy Gibson. This film is considered lost. The British film "A Night to Remember" (1958) is still widely regarded as the most historically accurate movie portrayal of the sinking. The most financially successful by far has been James Cameron's "Titanic" (1997), which became the highest-grossing film in history up to that time, as well as the winner of 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cameron.


title: Titanic

text: The "Titanic" disaster was commemorated through a variety of memorials and monuments to the victims, erected in several English-speaking countries and in particular in cities that had suffered notable losses. These included Southampton, Liverpool and Belfast in the United Kingdom; New York and Washington, D.C. in the United States; and Cobh (formerly Queenstown) in Ireland. A number of museums around the world have displays on "Titanic"; the most prominent is in Belfast, the ship's birthplace (see below).


title: Titanic

text: RMS Titanic Inc., which is authorised to salvage the wreck site, has a permanent "Titanic" exhibition at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel and casino in Nevada which features a 22-ton slab of the ship's hull. It also runs an exhibition which travels around the world. In Nova Scotia, Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic displays items that were recovered from the sea a few days after the disaster. They include pieces of woodwork such as panelling from the ship's First Class Lounge and an original deckchair, as well as objects removed from the victims. In 2012 the centenary was marked by plays, radio programmes, parades, exhibitions and special trips to the site of the sinking together with commemorative stamps and coins. Royal Mail (whose mail was carried by RMS (Royal Mail Ship) "Titanic") issued ten 1st class UK postage stamps, each with the "crown seal", to mark the centenary of the disaster.


title: Titanic

text: In a frequently commented-on literary coincidence, Morgan Robertson authored a novel called "Futility" in 1898 about a fictional British passenger liner with the plot bearing a number of similarities to the "Titanic" disaster. In the novel, the ship is the SS "Titan", a four-stacked liner, the largest in the world and considered unsinkable. And like the "Titanic", she sinks in April after hitting an iceberg and does not have enough lifeboats.


title: Titanic

text: Only recently has the significance of "Titanic" most notably been given by Northern Ireland where it was built by Harland and Wolff in the capital city, Belfast. While the rest of the world embraced the glory and tragedy of "Titanic", in its birth city, "Titanic" remained a taboo subject throughout the 20th century. The sinking brought tremendous grief and was a blow to the city's pride. Its shipyard was also a place many Catholics regarded as hostile. In the latter half of the century, during a 30-year sectarian conflict, "Titanic" was a reminder of the lack of civil rights that in part contributed towards the Troubles. While the fate of "Titanic" remained a well-known story within local households throughout the 20th century, commercial investment in projects recalling RMS "Titanic" legacy was modest because of these issues.


title: Titanic

text: After the Troubles and Good Friday Agreement, the number of overseas tourists visiting Northern Ireland dramatically increased to 30 million (100% rise by 2008). It was subsequently identified in the Northern Ireland Tourism Board's Strategic Framework for Action 2004–2007 that the significance of and interest in "Titanic" globally (partly due to the 1997 film "Titanic") was not being fully exploited as a tourist attraction. Thus, "Titanic" Belfast was spearheaded, along with some smaller projects, such as a "Titanic" memorial.


title: Titanic

text: In 2012 on the ship's centenary, the "Titanic" Belfast visitor attraction was opened on the site of the shipyard where "Titanic" was built. It was Northern Ireland's second most visited tourist attraction with almost 700,000 visitors in 2016.


title: Titanic

text: Despite over 1,600 ships being built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast Harbour, Queen's Island became renamed after its most famous ship, Titanic Quarter in 1995. Once a sensitive story, "Titanic" is now considered one of Northern Ireland's most iconic and uniting symbols.


title: Titanic

text: In late August 2018, several groups were vying for the right to purchase the 5,500 "Titanic" relics that were an asset of the bankrupt Premier Exhibitions. Eventually, "Titanic" Belfast, Titanic Foundation Limited and the National Museums Northern Ireland joined with the National Maritime Museum as a consortium that was raising money to purchase the 5,500 artefacts. The group intended to keep all of the items together as a single exhibit. Oceanographer Robert Ballard said he favoured this bid since it would ensure that the memorabilia would be permanently displayed in Belfast (where "Titanic" was built) and in Greenwich. The museums were critical of the bid process set by the Bankruptcy court in Jacksonville, Florida. The minimum bid for the 11 October 2018 auction was set at US$21.5 million (£16.5m) and the consortium did not have enough funding to meet that amount. On 17 October 2018, "The New York Times" reported that a consortium of three hedge funds—Apollo Global Management, Alta Fundamental Advisers, and PacBridge Capital Partners—had paid US$19.5 million for the collection.


title: Titanic

text: There have been several proposals and studies for a project to build a replica ship based on the "Titanic". A project by South African businessman Sarel Gaus was abandoned in 2006, and a project by Australian businessman Clive Palmer was announced in 2012, known as the "Titanic II".


title: Titanic

text: A Chinese shipbuilding company known as Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co., Ltd commenced construction in November 2016 to build a replica ship of the "Titanic" for use in a resort. The vessel will house many features of the original, such as a ballroom, dining hall, theatre, first-class cabins, economy cabins and swimming pool. Tourists will be able to reside inside the "Titanic" during their time at the resort. It will be permanently docked at the resort and feature an audiovisual simulation of the sinking, which has caused some criticism.


title: Titanic

text: RMS "Olympic" was the sister ship of the "Titanic". The interior decoration of the dining salon and the grand staircase were in identical style and created by the same craftsmen. Large parts of the interior of the "Olympic" were later sold and are now in the White Swan Hotel, Alnwick, which gives an impression of how the interior of the "Titanic" looked.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" is presented through a third-person perspective, with players freely roaming its interactive open world, featuring locations such as dungeons, catacombs, and caves. Gameplay elements include combat using several types of weapons and magic spells, horseback riding, and crafting.


title: Elden Ring

text: FromSoftware wanted to create an open-world game with gameplay similar to "Dark Souls", intending "Elden Ring" to act as an evolution of the first game in the series. Miyazaki admired Martin's work and hoped his contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than FromSoftware's previous games.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" received critical acclaim for its open-world, gameplay systems, and setting, although criticism went towards its technical performance upon release. The game won several awards, including multiple Game of the Year honors, and had sold more than 17.5 million copies by October 2022.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" is an action role-playing game played in a third person perspective, with gameplay focusing on combat and exploration. It features elements similar to those found in other games developed by FromSoftware, such as the "Dark Souls" series, "Bloodborne," and "". Set in an open world, players are allowed to freely explore the Lands Between and its six main areas; these locations range from Limgrave, an area featuring grassy plains and ancient ruins, to Caelid, a wasteland home to undead monsters. Open world areas are explorable using the character's mount, Torrent, as the primary mode of transportation, along with the ability to fast travel outside of combat. Throughout the game, players encounter non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies, including the demigods who rule each main area and serve as the game's main bosses. Aside from open world areas, "Elden Ring" also features hidden dungeons, such as catacombs, tunnels, and caves where players can fight bosses and gather helpful items.


title: Elden Ring

text: The player chooses a character class at the start of the game, which determines their starting spells, equipment, and attributes. Combat with enemies can be within melee range, or from a distance using ranged weapons or spells. Attacks from enemies can be blocked using shields or avoided by dodging. Spells in "Elden Ring" allow the player to enhance their own weapons, fight enemies from afar, and restore lost hit points. The player can memorize a limited amount of these spells, which can be cast using a staff or Sacred Seal item. Weapons in "Elden Ring" can be improved using Ashes of War, obtainable "enchantments" that grant weapons new capabilities. Ashes of War can be applied to or removed from weapons, and each Ash adds a Weapon Art, a special ability that can be used during combat. Aside from direct combat, stealth mechanics can be used to avoid enemies entirely, or allow for the targeting of foes with critical hits while hidden.


title: Elden Ring

text: Checkpoints called Sites of Grace are located throughout the game's areas; they are places where the character can increase the power of their attributes, change memorized spells, swap Ashes of War, or travel using the fast travel mechanic. Upon death, players respawn at the last Site of Grace where they rested; alternatively, they may choose to respawn at certain locations highlighted by "Stakes of Marika" provided they died nearby. To increase their attributes at Sites of Grace, the player must spend runes, an in-game currency acquired by defeating enemies. Runes can also be used to buy items and improve weapons and armor. Dying in "Elden Ring" will cause the player to lose all collected runes at the location of death, and if the player dies again before retrieving the runes, they will be lost forever.


title: Elden Ring

text: The game contains crafting mechanics, which require materials in order to create items. To craft a certain item, the player must have the item's crafting recipe. Recipes can be found inside collectibles called Cookbooks, which are scattered throughout the world. Materials can be collected by defeating enemies, exploring the game's world, or by trading with merchant NPCs. Crafted items range from poison darts and exploding pots, to consumables that temporarily increase the player's strength in combat. Similar to the "Dark Souls" games"," the player can summon friendly NPCs called spirits to fight enemies. Each type of summonable spirit requires its equivalent Spirit Ash for summoning; different types of Spirit Ashes can be discovered as the player explores the game world. Spirits can only be summoned near structures called Rebirth Monuments, which are primarily found in large areas and inside boss fight arenas.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" has a multiplayer system that allows players to be summoned for both cooperative and player versus player (PvP) play over the Internet. Cooperative play involves the placing of a Summon Sign on the ground, which causes the sign to appear in the world of online players who have used a corresponding item. If another player interacts with the sign, whoever placed down the sign is summoned into their world. Cooperative players remain in the same world until the boss of the area is defeated, or until a summoned player dies and is sent back to their home world. PvP combat involves using a Summon Sign to directly challenge another player to a duel, or using additional items to invade the worlds of others. World hosts may also use a "Taunter's Tongue" to increase the likelihood that their world will be invaded by others, as well as decreasing the time between invasions.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" takes place in the Lands Between, a fictional landmass ruled over by several demigods. It was previously ruled over by the immortal Queen Marika, who acted as keeper of the Elden Ring, a powerful force that manifested as the physical concept of order. When Marika eventually shattered the Elden Ring and disappeared, her demigod children began warring over pieces of the Ring in an event called the Shattering. Each demigod possesses a shard of the Ring called a Great Rune, which corrupts them with power. In the game, the player character is a Tarnished, one of a group of exiles from the Lands Between who are summoned back after the Shattering. As one of the Tarnished, the player must traverse the realm to repair the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord.


title: Elden Ring

text: Early on in their journey to repair the Elden Ring, the Tarnished encounters a maiden named Melina. As the Tarnished is maidenless, Melina offers to act as their maiden, granting them the ability to turn runes into strength, as well as giving the Tarnished their steed Torrent. She does this under the condition that the Tarnished brings her to the Erdtree, the home of the Elden Ring. Melina later takes the Tarnished to the Roundtable Hold, a gathering place for other Tarnished seeking to repair the Elden Ring. The Hold's benefactor, the Two Fingers, instructs the Tarnished to collect the Great Runes and bring them to the Erdtree, where they can be used to repair the Elden Ring.


title: Elden Ring

text: The Tarnished proceeds to journey into the Lands Between, investigating its various locales and defeating the demigods. They soon recover enough Great Runes so that the Two Fingers allows them to battle Morgott the Grace-Given, the demigod guarding the Erdtree. As he dies, Morgott claims that the Erdtree will not allow anyone to enter it, making the Elden Ring irreparable. The Tarnished confirms this when they approach the Erdtree and find the interior blocked by a wall of thorns. Melina then arrives and advises that they journey to find the Flame of Ruin, which they can use to set the Erdtree on fire and burn away the thorns. The Tarnished is then free to journey towards the Flame of Ruin, or can search for a way to harness the equally powerful Frenzied Flame.


title: Elden Ring

text: Upon obtaining the Flame of Ruin, if the Tarnished did not gain the power of the Frenzied Flame, then Melina will take the Flame of Ruin and sacrifice herself to set the Erdtree on fire. If the Tarnished gained the power of the Frenzied Flame, then Melina will abandon the Tarnished, forcing them to use the Frenzied Flame to set the Erdtree on fire. Regardless, the Tarnished is transported to the ruined city of Farum Azula while the Erdtree burns. After defeating Maliketh the Black Blade and using his Rune of Death to fuel the fire, the Tarnished is returned to the foot of the scorched Erdtree. Inside, they fight Radagon, Queen Marika's consort cohabitating her body, as well as the guardian of the tree, the Elden Beast. After both are vanquished, the Tarnished gains access to Marika's shattered corpse, which contains the remains of the Elden Ring. Depending on the Tarnished's actions throughout the game, six different endings can then be achieved, ranging from the Tarnished becoming the Elden Lord, to allowing the Elden Ring to be destroyed by Ranni the Witch, or using the Frenzied Flame to destroy the Lands Between.


title: Elden Ring

text: FromSoftware had previously been known for developing the "Dark Souls" series, noted for their high level of difficulty. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki wanted to create an open world game, intending "Elden Ring" as a mechanical evolution to "Dark Souls". The game was designed to have a more expansive environment compared to the narrow dungeons of FromSoftware's previous titles, with Miyazaki hoping that the grander scale would add freedom and depth to exploration. FromSoftware approached the American author George R. R. Martin, known for the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels, to provide worldbuilding for "Elden Ring". A fan of Martin's work, Miyazaki hoped Martin's contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than the studio's previous games.


title: Elden Ring

text: Miyazaki remained lead writer for the main storyline in the game, but gave Martin the creative freedom to write about events that had taken place before the main narrative. The process was compared by Miyazaki as using a "dungeon master's handbook in a tabletop RPG". As with many of FromSoftware's previous games, the story was designed to not be clearly explained. The developers intended for players to interpret the story for themselves via flavor text and optional discussions with non-player characters (NPCs). Miyazaki said that he enjoyed writing NPCs with more detail, believing they were more compelling than in his earlier works. In an interview with "IGN", Miyazaki said that he chose to give Martin control over the pre-narrative because of the restrictions that FromSoftware's method of storytelling placed on writers. He noted that FromSoftware did not want a linear or story-focused game, and by giving Martin oversight of a history that the player was not directly involved in, he could allow Martin to freely design his contributions. In addition to Martin, some staff from "Game of Thrones", a television series adaptation of "A Song of Ice and Fire", also assisted with the game's development.


title: Elden Ring

text: Production of the game began in early 2017 following the release of "The Ringed City", a piece of downloadable content for "Dark Souls III". The game was developed alongside "", which Miyazaki also directed. He explained that although the combat in "Elden Ring" has similarities to "Sekiro", neither game directly inspired the mechanics of the other. FromSoftware was able to develop both games simultaneously using a "co-director" structure, in which each of the developer’s games had a staff member acting as director through its first stages of development. Miyazaki would then later provide direction on the game's mechanics, art, and music. The design team of "Elden Ring" focused on environmental scale, roleplaying, and storytelling as the core elements of the game. Developers credited the scale as responsible for creating a sense of diversity, and intended for the roleplaying elements to allow for a variety of player interactions with the environment. Increasing the scale of the game required the creation of a multitude of castles, caves, and dungeons that players can explore. FromSoftware said the stealth and summoning systems were implemented in order to add alternatives to direct engagement in combat. Miyazaki mentioned "Shadow of the Colossus", "The Elder Scrolls", "The Witcher 3", and "" as design influences for "Elden Ring". He also credited "RuneQuest," "The Lord of the Rings", and Michael Moorcock's novel "The Eternal Champion" as inspirations for the game's story. "Elden Ring" original soundtrack was composed by Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, Yuka Kitamura, and Yoshimi Kudo.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" was revealed during the Xbox games conference at E3 2019. Some information about the game had been previously leaked online due to a vulnerability of the servers at Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game was widely anticipated on announcement, but no further material was released until another trailer was shown in June 2021. Playtesting was facilitated by Bandai Namco, which released the game initially as a closed beta in November 2021 that players could sign up to test. The game was delayed to February 25, 2022, after its previous release date on January 21, 2022. "Elden Ring" had performance issues at launch, with complaints of deficient frame rate being common. Bandai Namco would address some of these issues through software patches and updates.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator website Metacritic. On Twitch, it drew nearly 900,000 viewers within 24 hours of release, making it the third-largest debut on the platform after "Lost Ark" and "Cyberpunk 2077".


title: Elden Ring

text: The game's open world setting received acclaim, with reviewers praising the exploration mechanics. Tamoor Hussain of "GameSpot" praised the Lands Between as the most expansive of FromSoftware's settings, calling exploration and discovery the main appeal of the game. Mitchell Saltzman of "IGN" lauded the game for rewarding exploration on every part of the map. Simon Parkin of "The Guardian" called the game's environments "intriguing and inventive." Some reviewers liked that the open landscape provided opportunities to discover and try multiple challenges. Exploration drew many favorable comparisons to "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." The environments of the game were also praised for their artistic designs, with reviewers positively rating their execution in an open setting, while also appreciating the designs of linear dungeons.


title: Elden Ring

text: Similarly to FromSoftware's earlier "Dark Souls" games, "Elden Ring" difficulty provoked much commentary, with reviewers both praising and criticizing its lack of easier modes. Other reviewers considered "Elden Ring" the most accessible "Souls" game, saying that the player could choose to avoid difficult threats and return with more experience. The combat of "Elden Ring" was praised for offering options towards fighting enemies, while keeping the game challenging. Torrent and fast travel were well-received features, with reviewers citing them as large improvements towards making the game easier to explore. The placing of checkpoints was also praised as helpful towards making the game more approachable.


title: Elden Ring

text: Some reviewers criticized a number of the menu and accessibility systems. Reviewers also complained about the poor performance of the game on PC, with frame rate issues being commonly mentioned. Just after launch, the Steam version temporarily received primarily mixed reviews due to performance issues.


title: Elden Ring

text: The story of "Elden Ring" was noted by reviewers for lacking Martin’s writing style. Kyle Orland of "Ars Technica" said that "Elden Ring" storytelling was "characteristically sparse and cryptic,” and unlike what fans of Martin would expect. Chris Carter of "Destructoid" called the story "low key", but said it was better told than in previous FromSoftware games. Aoife Wilson of "Eurogamer" said that George R. R. Martin's heavy inclusion in the marketing was "baffling" when his contributions to the overall narrative were unclear. Mitchell Saltzman did not mind the lack of Martin's style, saying the side stories, rather than any grand overarching plot, kept him "enthralled".


title: Elden Ring

text: A crowdfunding campaign for a board game based on "Elden Ring" was launched on Kickstarter by Steamforged Games in November 2022.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" sold copies worldwide by the end of March 2022, rising to over by the end of September 2022. It was the best-selling game in several regions between February and March 2022, and is the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game of all time. It was the second-best selling game of 2022 in the US after "" and the tenth best-selling in Europe and Japan.


title: Elden Ring

text: "Elden Ring" was listed as the Game of the Year for 2022 by "GamesRadar+", "GameSpot", "IGN", and "Polygon".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2010. It was the eleventh time the championships had been held in Europe, and the first time they were held in Eastern Europe. At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup ever held until it was surpassed by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The tournament phase involved 32 teams, of which 31 came through qualifying competitions, while as the host nation Russia qualified automatically. Of the 32, 20 had also appeared in the 2014 event, while Iceland and Panama each made their first appearance at the World Cup. 64 matches were played in 12 venues across 11 cities. Germany, the defending champions, were eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1938. Host nation Russia was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the final, France played Croatia on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. France won the match 4–2, claiming their second World Cup and becoming the fourth consecutive title won by a European team, after Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010, and Germany in 2014.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Croatian player Luka Modrić was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball. England's Harry Kane won the Golden Boot as he scored the most goals during the tournament with six. Belgium's Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove, awarded to the goalkeeper with the best performance. It has been estimated that more than 3 million people attended games during the tournament.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup tournaments began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. Initially, nine countries placed bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico later withdrew from the proceedings, and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian government failed to submit a letter to support the bid. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA nations (Australia, Japan, and the United States) gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and thus were ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were eventually four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, two of which were joint bids: England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium, and Portugal/Spain.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The 22-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments. Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting. The Portugal/Spain bid came second, and that from Belgium/Netherlands third. England, which was bidding to host its second tournament, was eliminated in the first round.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The choice of Russia as host was controversial. Issues included the level of racism in Russian football, human rights abuses by Russian authorities, and discrimination against LGBT people in wider Russian society. Russia's involvement in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine had also prompted calls for the tournament to be moved, particularly following the annexation of Crimea. In 2014, FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated that "the World Cup has been given and voted to Russia and we are going forward with our work".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Russia was criticised for alleged abuse of migrant labourers in the construction of World Cup venues, with Human Rights Watch reporting cases where workers were left unpaid, made to work in dangerously cold conditions, or suffering reprisals for raising concerns. A few pundits claimed it was slave labour. On May 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino admitted there had been human rights abuses of North Korean workers involved in the construction of Saint Petersburg's Zenit Arena. By June 2017, at least 17 workers had died on World Cup construction sites, according to Building and Wood Workers’ International. In August, a group of eight US senators called on FIFA to consider dismissing Russia as the World Cup host if an independent investigation verified allegations of North Koreans being subjected to forced labor.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Racism and Neo-nazi symbols displayed in the past by some Russian football fans drew criticism, with documented incidents of racial chants, banners spewing hate-filled messages, and sometimes assaults on people from the Caucasus and Central Asia. On March 2015, FIFA's then Vice President Jeffrey Webb said that Russia posed a huge challenge from a racism standpoint, and that a World Cup could not be held there under the current conditions. On July, United Nations anti-discrimination official Yuri Boychenko said that Russian soccer authorities had failed to fully grasp what racism was and needed to do more to combat it. To address this as well as concerns of hooliganism in general, Russian intelligence services blacklisted over 400 fans from entering the stadiums by June 2018, with 32 other countries also sending officers to help local police screen attendees for valid ID cards.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Allegations of corruption in the bidding processes and concerns over bribery on the part of the Russian team and corruption by FIFA members for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups led to threats from England's FA to boycott the tournament. They claimed that four members of the executive committee had requested bribes to vote for England, and Sepp Blatter had said it had already been arranged before the vote that Russia would win. FIFA appointed Michael J. Garcia, a US attorney, to investigate and produce a report on the corruption allegations. Although the report was never published, FIFA released a 42-page summary of its findings as determined by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert. Eckert's summary cleared Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing, but was denounced by critics as a whitewash. Because of the controversy, the FA refused to accept Eckert's absolving Russia from blame. Greg Dyke called for a re-examination of the affair and David Bernstein called for a boycott of the World Cup. Garcia criticised the summary as being "materially incomplete" with "erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions", and appealed to FIFA's Appeal Committee. The committee declined to hear his appeal, so Garcia resigned to protest of FIFA's conduct, citing a "lack of leadership" and lack of confidence in Eckert's independence.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: On 3 June 2015, the FBI confirmed that federal authorities were investigating the bidding and awarding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. In an interview published on 7 June 2015, Domenico Scala, the head of FIFA's Audit And Compliance Committee, stated that "should there be evidence that the awards to Qatar and Russia came only because of bought votes, then the awards could be cancelled". Prince William of Wales and former British Prime Minister David Cameron attended a meeting with FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon in which a vote-trading deal for the right to host the 2018 World Cup in England was discussed.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: For the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, all eligible nations—the 209 FIFA member associations except automatically qualified hosts Russia—applied to enter the qualifying process. Zimbabwe and Indonesia were later disqualified before playing their first matches, while Gibraltar and Kosovo, who joined FIFA on 13 May 2016 after the qualifying draw but before European qualifying had begun, also entered the competition. Places in the tournament were allocated to continental confederations, with the allocation unchanged from the 2014 World Cup. The first qualification game, between Timor-Leste and Mongolia, began in Dili on 12 March 2015 as part of the AFC's qualification, and the main qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, on 25 July 2015.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Of the 32 nations qualified to play at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 20 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2014. Both Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, with the former becoming the smallest country in terms of population to reach the World Cup. Other teams returning after absences of at least three tournaments included: Egypt, returning to the finals after their last appearance in 1990; Morocco, who last competed in 1998; Peru, who last appeared in 1982; and Senegal, competing for the second time after reaching the quarter-finals in 2002. It was the first time three Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) and four Arab nations (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia) qualified for the World Cup.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Notable teams that failed to qualify included: four-time champions Italy (for the first time since 1958), who were knocked out in a qualification play-off by quarter-finalists Sweden and were the highest-ranked team to not qualify; and the Netherlands, who were three-time runners-up and had finished in third place in 2014, and had qualified for the last three World Cups. Four reigning continental champions: 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winners Cameroon; two-time Copa América champions and 2017 Confederations Cup runners-up Chile; 2016 OFC Nations Cup winners New Zealand; and 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup champions the United States (for the first time since 1986) also failed to qualify. The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for Ghana and Ivory Coast, both of which had qualified for the three previous tournaments. The lowest-ranked team to qualify was the host nation, Russia.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The draw was held on 1 December 2017 at 18:00 MSK at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2017. Pot one contained the hosts Russia (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams. Pot two contained the next best eight teams, and so on for pots three and four. This was different from previous draws, when only pot one was based on FIFA rankings while the remaining pots were based on geographical considerations. However, teams from the same confederation still were not drawn against each other for the group stage, except that two UEFA teams could be in each group. The pots for the draw are shown below.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Initially, each team had to name a preliminary squad of 30 players, but in February 2018 this was increased to 35. From the preliminary squad, the team had to name a final squad of 23 players (three of whom had to be goalkeepers) by 4 June. Players in the final squad could be replaced for serious injury up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match. These replacements did not need to have been named in the preliminary squad.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: For players named in the 35-player preliminary squad, there was a mandatory rest period between 21 and 27 May 2018, except for those involved in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final played on 26 May.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: On 29 March 2018, FIFA released the list of 36 referees and 63 assistant referees selected to oversee matches. On 30 April 2018, FIFA released the list of 13 video assistant referees, who acted solely in this capacity in the tournament.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Referee Fahad Al-Mirdasi of Saudi Arabia was removed on 30 May 2018 over a match-fixing attempt, along with his two assistant referees, compatriots Mohammed Al-Abakry and Abdulah Al-Shalwai. A new referee was not appointed, but two assistant referees, Hasan Al Mahri of the United Arab Emirates and Hiroshi Yamauchi of Japan, were added to the list. Assistant referee Marwa Range of Kenya also withdrew after the BBC released an investigation conducted by a Ghanaian journalist which implicated him in a bribery scandal.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Shortly after the International Football Association Board's decision to incorporate video assistant referees (VARs) into the Laws of the game (LOTG) on 16 March 2018, the FIFA Council took the much-anticipated step of approving the use of VAR for the first time in a FIFA World Cup tournament.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: VAR operations for all games were operated from a single headquarters in Moscow, which received live video of the games and were in radio contact with the on-field referees. Systems were in place for communicating VAR-related information to broadcasters and visuals on stadiums' large screens were used for the fans in attendance.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: VAR had a significant impact on several games. On 15 June 2018, Diego Costa's first goal against Portugal became the first World Cup goal based on a VAR decision; the first penalty as a result of a VAR decision was awarded to France in their match against Australia on 16 June and resulted in a goal by Antoine Griezmann. A record number of penalties were awarded in the tournament, a phenomenon partially attributed to VAR. Overall, the new technology was both praised and criticised by commentators. FIFA declared the implementation of VAR a success after the first week of competition.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Russia proposed the following host cities: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg. Each chosen city was located in European Russia (except Yekaterinburg, which lies very close to the Europe-Asia border) in order to reduce travel time for the teams in the huge country. The bid evaluation report stated: "The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, thus exceeding FIFA's minimum requirement. Three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed."


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: In October 2011, Russia reduced the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. Construction of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow Oblast was cancelled by the regional government. Also, in the capital, Otkritie Arena was competing with Dynamo Stadium over which would be constructed first.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012. The number of cities was reduced further to 11 and the number of stadiums to 12 as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were dropped from the final list. Of the 12 stadiums used for the tournament, three (Luzhniki, Yekaterinburg and Sochi) had been extensively renovated and the other nine were brand new; $11.8 billion was spent on hosting the tournament.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Sepp Blatter had said in July 2014 that, given the concerns over the completion of venues in Russia, the number of venues for the tournament may be reduced from 12 to 10. He also said, "We are not going to be in a situation, as is the case of one, two or even three stadiums in South Africa, where it is a problem of what you do with these stadiums".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: In October 2014, on their first official visit to Russia, FIFA's inspection committee and its head, Chris Unger, visited St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan and both Moscow venues. They were satisfied with the progress. On 8 October 2015, FIFA and the local organising committee agreed on the official names of the stadiums to be used during the tournament. Of the twelve venues, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and the Saint Petersburg Stadium—the two largest stadiums in Russia—were used most; both hosted seven matches. Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara each hosted six matches, including one quarter-final match each, while the Otkritie Stadium in Moscow and the Rostov Stadium hosted five matches, including one round-of-16 match each. Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Saransk each hosted four matches, but did not host any knockout stage games.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Twelve stadiums in eleven Russian cities were built or renovated for the FIFA World Cup. Between 2010 (when Russia were announced as hosts) and 2018, nine of the twelve stadiums were built (some in place of older, outdated venues) and the other three were renovated for the tournament.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. On 9 February 2018, FIFA announced the base camps for each participating team.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion , the 2018 FIFA event was the most expensive World Cup in history, surpassing the $11.6 billion cost of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The Russian government had originally earmarked a budget of around $20 billion, which was later slashed to $10 billion, for World Cup preparations. Half was spent on transportation infrastructure. As part of the program to prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a federal sub-program—"Construction and Renovation of Transport Infrastructure"—was implemented with a total budget of ₽352.5 billion (rubles), with ₽170.3 billion coming from the federal budget, ₽35.1 billion from regional budgets, and ₽147.1 billion from investors. The biggest item of federal spending was the aviation infrastructure costing ₽117.8 billion. Construction of new hotels was a crucial area of infrastructure development in World Cup host cities. Costs continued to mount as preparations were underway.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don was upgraded with automated air traffic control systems. Modern surveillance, navigation, communication, control, and meteorological support systems were also installed. Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg was upgraded with radio-engineering tools for flight operation and received a second runway. Saransk Airport received a new navigation system; two new hotels were constructed in the city—the Mercure Saransk Centre (Accor Hotels) and Four Points by Sheraton Saransk as well as few other smaller accommodation facilities. In Samara, new tram lines were laid. Khrabrovo Airport in Kaliningrad was upgraded with radio navigation and weather equipment. Renovation and upgraded radio-engineering tools for flight operations was completed in the Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Volgograd, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Sochi airports. On 27 March, the Russian Ministry of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector of reported that all communications within its area of responsibility had been commissioned. The last facility commissioned was a waste treatment station in Volgograd. In Yekaterinburg, where four matches were hosted, hosting costs increased to over ₽7.4 billion, exceeding the ₽5.6 billion rubles originally allocated from the state and regional budget.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Volunteer applications to the 2018 Russia Local Organising Committee opened on 1 June 2016. The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Volunteer Program received about 177,000 applications, and engaged a total of 35,000 volunteers. They received training at 15 Volunteer Centres of the local organising committee based in 15 universities, and in volunteer centres in the host cities. Preference, especially in key areas, was given to those with knowledge of a foreign language and volunteering experience, but not necessarily to Russian nationals.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Free public transport services were offered for ticketholders during the World Cup, including additional trains linking host cities, as well as services such as bus services within them.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The full schedule was announced by FIFA on 24 July 2015 without kick-off times, which were confirmed later. On 1 December 2017, following the final draw, FIFA adjusted six kick-off times.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Russia was placed in position A1 in the group stage and played in the opening match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 14 June against Saudi Arabia, the two lowest-ranked teams of the tournament at the time of the final draw. The Luzhniki Stadium also hosted the second semi-final on 11 July and the final on 15 July. The Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg hosted the first semi-final on 10 July and the third place play-off on 14 July.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 June 2018, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, preceding the opening match of the tournament between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: At the start of the ceremony, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech, welcoming the countries of the world to Russia and calling football a uniting force. Brazilian World Cup-winning striker Ronaldo entered the stadium with a child in a Russia jersey. Pop singer Robbie Williams then sang two of his songs solo before he and Russian soprano Aida Garifullina performed a duet. Dancers dressed in the flags of the 32 competing teams appeared carrying a sign with the name of each nation. At the end of the ceremony Ronaldo reappeared with the official match ball which had returned from the International Space Station in early June.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Young participants of the international children's social programme Football for Friendship from 211 countries and regions took part in the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup at the Luzhniki stadium.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage. Ten European teams and four South American teams progressed to the knockout stage, together with Japan and Mexico.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: For the first time since 1938, Germany, the reigning champions, were eliminated in the first round. This was the third consecutive tournament in which the holders were eliminated in the first round, after Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014. No African team progressed to the second round for the first time since 1982. The fair play criteria came into use for the first time when Japan qualified over Senegal because the team had received fewer yellow cards. Only one match, France versus Denmark, was goalless. Until then there were a record 36 straight games in which at least one goal was scored. All times listed below are local time.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: In the knockout stages, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. If a match went into extra time, each team was allowed to make a fourth substitution, the first time this had been allowed in a FIFA World Cup tournament. Below is the bracket for the knockout round of the tournament, teams in bold denote match winners.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. The Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Ball (best overall player) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) awards were all sponsored by Adidas.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Additionally, FIFA.com shortlisted 18 goals for users to vote on as the tournament's best. The poll closed on 23 July. The award was sponsored by Hyundai.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: FIFA published an All-Star Team, this year called the "Fantasy Team", based on player performances evaluated through statistical data.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The tournament logo was unveiled on 28 October 2014 by cosmonauts at the International Space Station and then projected onto Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre during an evening television programme. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the logo was inspired by "Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation", and FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated that it reflected the "heart and soul" of the country. For branding, Portuguese design agency Brandia Central created materials in 2014, with a typeface called "Dusha" (from , ) designed by Brandia Central and edited by Adotbelow of the DSType Foundry in Portugal.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The first phase of ticket sales started on 14 September 2017, 12:00 Moscow Time, and lasted until 12 October 2017.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The general visa policy of Russia did not apply to participants and spectators, who were able to visit Russia without a visa right before and during the competition regardless of their citizenship. Spectators were nonetheless required to register for a "Fan-ID", a special photo identification pass. A Fan-ID was required to enter the country visa-free, while a ticket, Fan-ID and a valid passport were required to enter stadiums for matches. Fan-IDs also granted World Cup attendees free access to public transport services, including buses, and train service between host cities. Fan-ID was administered by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, which could revoke this accreditation at any time to "ensure the defence capability or security of the state or public order".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: On 29 May 2018, Electronic Arts released a free update to their video game "FIFA 18" that added content related to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The expansion included a World Cup tournament mode with all teams and stadiums from the event, official television presentation elements, and World Cup-related content for the Ultimate Team mode.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Panini continued their partnership with FIFA by producing stickers for their World Cup sticker album. Panini also developed an app for the 2018 World Cup where fans could collect and swap virtual stickers, with 5 million fans gathering digital stickers for the tournament.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The tournament's official mascot was unveiled on 21 October 2016, and selected through a design competition among university students. A public vote was used to select the mascot from three finalists—a cat, a tiger, and a wolf. The winner, with 53% or approximately 1 million votes, was Zabivaka—an anthropomorphic wolf dressed in the colours of the Russian national team. Zabivaka's name is a portmanteau of the Russian words забияка ("hothead") and забивать ("to score"), and his official backstory states that he is an aspiring football player who is "charming, confident and social".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The official match ball, the "Telstar 18", was unveiled on 9 November 2017. It was based on the name and design of the first Adidas World Cup ball from 1970. A special red-coloured variation, "Telstar Mechta", was used for the knockout stage of the tournament. The word "mechta" (Russian: мечта) means "dream" or "ambition".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Goalkeepers noted that the ball was slippery and prone to having unpredictable trajectory. In addition, two Telstar 18 balls popped in the midst of a first-round match between France and Australia, leading to further discussions over the ball's performance.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The official song of the tournament was "Live It Up", with vocals by Will Smith, Nicky Jam and Era Istrefi, released on 25 May 2018. Its music video was released on 8 June 2018.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Thirty-three footballers who were alleged to be part of the Russian steroid programme are listed in the McLaren Report. On 22 December 2017, it was reported that FIFA had fired a doctor who had been investigating doping in Russian football. On 22 May 2018 FIFA confirmed that the investigations concerning all Russian players named for the provisional squad of the FIFA World Cup in Russia had been completed, with the result that insufficient evidence was found to support anti-doping rule violations. FIFA's medical committee also decided that Russian personnel would not be involved in performing drug testing procedures at the tournament, an action taken to reassure teams that samples would not be tampered with.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Russia relaxed its visa rules during the World Cup, allowing Fan ID holders to enter and exit Russia without a visa through 31 December 2018. Traffickers exploited this system to bring foreign sex trafficking victims into the country, especially from Nigeria. Reuters had raised concerns about the victims' conditions, who had allegedly been forced into prostitution, with some of them enduring violent abuse. Russian authorities were accused of doing little to fix to the issue, allegedly because many locals blamed the victims for falling into prostitution.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: In response to the March 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, British prime minister Theresa May announced that no British ministers or members of the royal family would attend the World Cup, and issued a warning to any travelling England fans. Russia responded to the comments from the UK Parliament claiming that the West are trying to "take the World Cup out of Russia". The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced Boris Johnson's statements that compared the event to the 1936 Olympics held in Nazi Germany as "poisoned with venom of hate, unprofessionalism and boorishness" and "unacceptable and unworthy" parallel towards Russia, a "nation that lost millions of lives in fighting Nazism".


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: At the close of the World Cup, Russia was widely praised for its success in hosting the tournament, with Steve Rosenberg of the BBC deeming it "a resounding public relations success" for Putin, adding: "The stunning new stadiums, free train travel to venues and the absence of crowd violence has impressed visiting supporters. Russia has come across as friendly and hospitable: a stark contrast with the country's authoritarian image. All the foreign fans I have spoken to are pleasantly surprised."


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Despite the British Foreign Office and MPs repeatedly warning English football fans travelling to Russia of "racist or homophobic intimidation, hooligan violence and anti-British hostility", fans who did travel said they received a warm welcome from ordinary citizens after arriving in Russia.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated: "Everyone discovered a beautiful country, a welcoming country, that is keen to show the world that everything that has been said before might not be true. A lot of preconceived ideas have been changed because people have seen the true nature of Russia." Infantino has proclaimed Russia 2018 to be "the best World Cup ever", as 98 per cent of the stadiums were sold out, there were 3 billion viewers on TV around the world and 7 million fans visited the fan fests. It was the most viewed World Cup to date, and the third most viewed television broadcast, surpassing the Beijing Olympics in 2008.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: However, some Western media outlets called the tournament a distraction from the international isolation and economic difficulties Russia has been facing.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: FIFA, through several companies, sold the broadcasting rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to various local broadcasters. After having tested the technology at limited matches of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup (via private tests and public viewings in the host city of Rio de Janeiro), the 2018 World Cup was the first World Cup in which all matches were produced in 4K ultra high definition. Host Broadcast Services (HBS) stated that at least 75% of the broadcast cut of each match would come from 4K cameras (covering the majority of main angles), with instant replays and some camera angles being converted up from 1080p high definition sources with limited degradation in quality. These broadcasts were made available from selected rightsholders and television providers.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: In February 2018, Ukrainian rightsholder stated that it would not broadcast the World Cup. This came in the wake of growing boycotts of the tournament among the Football Federation of Ukraine and sports minister Ihor Zhdanov. Additionally, the Football Federation of Ukraine refused to accredit journalists for the World Cup and waived their quota of tickets. However, the Ukrainian state TV still broadcast the World Cup, and more than 4 million Ukrainians watched the opening match.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Broadcast rights to the tournament in the Middle East were hampered by an ongoing diplomatic crisis in Qatar, which saw Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Qatar—the home country of FIFA's Middle East and Africa rightsholder beIN Sports—in June 2017, over its alleged state support of terrorist groups. On 2 June 2018, beIN pulled its channels from Du and Etisalat, but with service to the latter restored later that day. Etisalat subsequently announced that it would air the World Cup in the UAE, and continue to offer beIN normally and without interruptions. In Saudi Arabia, beIN was banned from doing business; as a result, its channels and other content have been widely and illegally repackaged by a broadcaster identifying itself as "beoutQ". While FIFA attempted to negotiate the sale of a package consisting of Saudi matches and the final indirectly, they were unable to do so. On 12 July 2018, FIFA stated that it had "engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have also been affected to protect its interests."


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: In the United States, the 2018 World Cup was the first men's World Cup whose English rights were held by Fox Sports, and Spanish rights held by Telemundo. The elimination of the United States in qualifying led to concerns that US interest and viewership of this World Cup would be reduced, noting that "casual" viewers of U.S. matches caused them to peak at 16.5 million viewers in 2014, and determined how much Fox paid for the rights. During a launch event prior to the elimination, Fox stated that it had planned to place a secondary focus on the Mexican team in its coverage to take advantage of their popularity among Hispanic and Latino Americans. Fox stated that it was still committed to broadcasting a significant amount of tournament coverage. Viewership was down overall over 2014; match scheduling was not as favourable to viewers in the Americas as it was in 2014. Many matches aired in the morning hours, although Telemundo's broadcast of the Mexico-Sweden Group F match was announced as being its most-watched weekday daytime program in network history.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: Unlike previous tournaments, where the rights were bundled with those of South Korea, Korean Central Television acquired rights to the 2018 World Cup within North Korea. Broadcasts only began with the round of 16, and matches were tape delayed and edited for time. In addition, matches involving Japan were excluded from the broadcasts, due to strained relations and campaigns against the country.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: A combined 3.572 billion viewers – more than half of the global population aged four and over – tuned in to world football's ultimate competition, according to audience data for official broadcast coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.


title: 2018 FIFA World Cup

text: The average global live audience of for the tournament was 191 million viewers, a 2.1% increase over the 2014 tournament average of 187 million viewers, including that average audience in the early stages (group stage and round of 16) were bigger than in 2014. However, in 2018, the audience was 15 percent smaller for the semi-finals, 17 percent for the third place play-off, and 5.1 percent for the final, which was watched by 517 million people on average, compared to 545 million in 2014. Presumably, the reason for that is the smaller countries involved in the top four games compared to those in 2014, and only one global region (Europe) being represented in 2018 (compared to South America and Europe in 2014).


title: Prince (musician)

text: Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958April 21, 2016), more commonly known mononymously as Prince, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film director and record producer. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona; his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist, often preferring to play all or most of the instruments on his recordings. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound. His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, and hip hop.


title: Prince (musician)

text: Born and raised in Minneapolis, Prince signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 19, soon releasing the albums "For You" (1978) and "Prince" (1979). He went on to achieve critical success with the influential albums "Dirty Mind" (1980), "Controversy" (1981), and "1999" (1982). His sixth album, "Purple Rain" (1984), was recorded with his new backing band the Revolution, and was also the soundtrack to the film of the same name in which he starred. "Purple Rain" garnered continued success for Prince and was a major commercial achievement, spending six consecutive months atop the "Billboard" 200 chart. The soundtrack also won Prince the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. After disbanding the Revolution, Prince released the album "Sign o' the Times" (1987), widely hailed by critics as the greatest work of his career. In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, he changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol (known to fans as the "Love Symbol") and was often referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (or TAFKAP) or simply The Artist.