World Cup schedule on Calendar
The kick-off for the 2018 FIFA World Cup of football will be on Thursday June 14th, with Russia playing Saudi Arabia in the opening match. With dozens of games happening in different time zones over the course of a month, it can be difficult to track the different fixtures, kick-off times, and venues. For that reason, subscribing to a calendar of the event might be a good idea. In this post, I will show you how to add the 2018 World Cup schedule to your calendar.

Why add the FIFA World Cup schedule to your calendar

While you can certainly rely on various apps to keep tabs on the competition, I have found that the best way to follow the days and times of the various games is to subscribe to a calendar of the event.
This way, you can quickly see what teams are playing on any given day, and find out what time the games are scheduled for in your timezone. For such a competition, timezone support is essential because nobody wants to have to deal with trying to figure out what 4pm in Moscow equals to in New York. Russia being such a large countries covered by different timezones adds to the complexity of trying to figure out kick-off times in local timezones.
The calendar that I have selected for you does offer timezone support, meaning each game will be displayed in your local time in your calendar.
This calendar is also automatically updated as teams move forward in the competition. This means that when France ends up first of its group and moves towards the quarter finals, semi finals, and ultimately the final game, the calendar will update in the background to always provide up-to-date information.

How to get the World Cup schedule on your calendar

There are so many devices out there that can subscribe to a calendar that it is impossible to show a detailed tutorial for each of them. That said, the concept is virtually the same whether you use an iPhone, an Android device, an iPad, a Mac, or a PC. For that reason, I will only show you how to get the FIFA World Cup schedule on your iPhone or on your Mac’s Calendar app.

Get the World Cup schedule on your Mac calendar

If you are fully immersed in the Apple ecosystem, the best way to subscribe to this calendar is to do so directly from your Mac. This way, you can set the calendar as an iCloud calendar, which will then be synced across your devices. This means that, assuming your use iCloud for your calendars, you won’t have to subscribe to the calendar on all your devices.
1) On your Mac, go to the FIFA Football (soccer) World Cup 2018 Russia – Fixture calendar page. Note that this is not an official calendar because FIFA doesn’t seem to offer an official iCal feed.
FIFA Football World Cup 2018 Russia calendar
2) Click on the blue Subscribe to Calendar button. You will be asked “Do you want to allow this page to open Calendar.app?” Choose Allow.
Open calendar in Calendar app on Mac
3) The URL of the calendar will be automatically populated. Click the blue Subscribe button.
Subscribe to FIFA calendar on Mac
4) This is where you can customize this calendar subscription a bit. You can for example:
  • Change the name of the calendar
  • Select a color for the events labels (green is best, of course)
  • Select the location of the calendar, either On My Mac if you want the calendar to only appear on your Mac, or iCloud if you want this calendar to sync with your other Apple devices (recommended)
  • Show or remove event alerts and attachments. I like to keep both so that I can receive an alert before a game is about to start.
  • Change the auto-refresh rate of the calendar. Every day seems to be an appropriate refresh rate.
  • Choose to ignore alerts or not.
World Cup calendar for Mac
When you have made changes according to your preferences, click OK.
5) Just like that, you have the full calendar of the competition on your Mac.
World Cup 2018 games schedule
If you selected iCloud as the location of your calendar, it will sync across your Apple devices. If you haven’t, then read on.

Get the World Cup schedule on your iPhone, iPad, or other device

These are instructions to add the FIFA 2018 World Cup calendar to your iPhone, iPad, or any other mobile device. Note that unlike the method showed above, this will only add the calendar locally on your device, and it will not sync with your other devices.
1) On your iPhone or iPad, visit the FIFA Football (soccer) World Cup 2018 Russia – Fixture calendar page. Tap on the blue Subscribe to Calendar button.
FIFA soccer 2018 calendar
2) When asked whether you want to subscribe to the calendar, tap Subscribe. The calendar is then added to your device. Tap Done to confirm.
Get world cup 2018 calendar on iPhone
3) Launch the Calendar app on your iPhone or iPad, where all the events are listed. Tap on the Calendars button at the bottom of the screen, then tap on the ” i ” icon next to your FIFA calendar. You can then change the name of the calendar and choose a different color for the events label.
Customize calendar for World Cup
4) When the competition is over, you can go to your iPhone or iPad Settings app, select Accounts & Passwords, > Subscribed Calendars > Fifa World Cup 2018 > Delete Account. This will remove the calendar from your device.
What team(s) will you be rooting for during this World Cup? I’m sure you’ll have guessed what my team is by now…