The World Cup is over, but who are the 11 best performers of the tournament? From the flying brilliance of England's Jordan Pickford to the rapier speed of Kylian Mbappe, here's who impressed us the most.

Goalkeeper: As England's hero of the hour, Jordan Pickford helped the Three Lions banish their World Cup shootout curse by denying Colombia's Carlos Bacca from the spot in the round of 16. The Everton goalkeeper was only elected to be No.1 on the eve of the tournament, but he was unfazed by the...

MOSCOW -- Gareth Southgate was probably expecting a tougher opening question ahead of the biggest game of his managerial career, but as the England coach addressed the media in the build-up to Wednesday's World Cup semifinal against Croatia, it was all about a rubber chicken.

Not the threat of Croatia, Luka Modric's ability to carve open the best defences in the world or even Raheem Sterling's ongoing search for his first goal of the tournament. The big issue was this: why Southgate's players...

Saudi Arabia's 5-0 capitulation to what was previously considered to be a distinctly average Russia side raised questions about the depth of quality at the 2018 World Cup. Friday's dull match between Iran and Morocco hardly offered a counterargument.

This tournament has 32 nations, with Saudi Arabia (67th) and Russia (70th) the two lowest FIFA-ranked sides taking part. But by the time we get to Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026, there will be 48 nations who will qualify -- and many of...

Michel Platini has said France used "trickery" to influence the 1998 World Cup group stage draw. We take a look at the background.

So what happened?

Platini said France wanted to ensure the hosts and reigning champions Brazil could not meet until the final, therefore ensuring "everyone's dream" by meeting in the final.

How did they do this?

As with most tournament draws, the knockout rounds fall into two halves -- therefore four group winners cannot meet any of the winners of the other four groups...

With 23 of the 32 finalists for the 2018 World Cup finals now known, and all matches played that will be used by FIFA to rank nations, the draw pots for the group stage are now taking shape.

FIFA is to use its October World Ranking to seed all four pots for the draw, a departure from recent tournaments when only the top eight nations were seeded with other pots grouped by Confederation. The Ranking is officially published on Monday by FIFA, but we have calculated the numbers to see which nations...

Ever since Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup, hope has remained in some quarters that the tournament would ultimately be taken away from the tiny Middle Eastern country. Allegations of corruption have generated plenty of smoke, as have the appalling working conditions inside the country. Yet there hasn't been any fire, at least by FIFA's narrow definition.

The accumulation of fuel continues, however. The latest addition to the possible pyrotechnics came this week when FIFA Executive...