Who will win the World Cup? BBC pundits make their predictions
The World Cup starts in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium on Thursday and finishes in the MetLife Stadium near New York City on 19 July. Forty-eight teams will contest the tournament, which will be played out in 104 matches across three countries over 39 days, including the co-hosts
The World Cup starts in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium on Thursday and finishes in the MetLife Stadium near New York City on 19 July.
Forty-eight teams will contest the tournament, which will be played out in 104 matches across three countries over 39 days, including the co-hosts - Canada, Mexico and the United States - plus holders Argentina.
Who will get their hands on the famous gold trophy this time? Who are the other main contenders? And how will England and Scotland do?
BBC Sport's TV and radio football pundits and co-commentators have predicted what will happen over the next five weeks, and we have asked AI and Opta's 'supercomputer' for their picks too.
Alan Shearer: France, but there's a caveat that comes with it - only if there is no in-house fighting. With the ability they have in forward positions, two or three big players are going to be left out every game, so it will come down to whether they cope with that in the right way.
Danny Murphy: It's hard to look past France with the firepower they have, when you think about extra time in hot weather against tired legs.
The likes of Rayan Cherki, Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue can't all start, but they can be gamechangers if they come on after 70 minutes in 30 degrees heat.
Olivier Giroud: For me the two strongest teams are France and Spain. But will they meet each other in the final or before? That will be the question, but I obviously hope France will win.
