FIFA Confederations Cup: Everything you need to know

Portugal

What is the Confederations Cup, where is it and when is it happening?

Taking place the summer before a FIFA World Cup year, the Confederations Cup brings together the six winners of the continental competitions across the world, plus the tournament hosts and previous World Cup winners.

The tournament takes place at four of the venues which Russia will use for next year’s World Cup – Moscow’s Spartak Stadium, Sochi, Kazan and Saint Petersburg, with the Hammers’ Jose Fonte featuring for Portugal.

The European champions will take on Russia, New Zealand and Mexico in Group A, while Germany, Chile, Cameroon and Australia make up Group B.

Russia faced New Zealand in the opening game on Saturday, with the final on 2 July.

When are Jose Fonte’s games?

Portugal kicked-off their campaign against Mexico with a 2-2 draw against Mexico on Sunday, in which Fonte earned his 24th Portugal cap.  Their second match is against the hosts Russia at 4pm on Wednesday 21 June. Their final group match is against New Zealand on Saturday 24 June, also at 4pm.

 

Winston Reid in action for New Zealand

Why isn’t Winston Reid playing for New Zealand?

Reid is New Zealand captain and featured for his country at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, he is unable to lead the All Whites in Russia this summer as he recovers from knee surgery which ended his season a week early.

Reid was playing through the pain towards the end of the 2016/17 campaign and underwent his surgery in order to return for pre-season – ending his hopes of turning out in Russia.  However, the Hammers defender will hope to be there next summer at the World Cup, with New Zealand well set to make it to the qualifier against the South American fifth place team.

What’s Jose Fonte’s record for Portugal like?

The 33-year-old has enjoyed great success during his international career, not making his debut until 2014 but hardly suffering a setback since.

At Euro 2016 last summer, he did not start until the last-16 tie against Croatia, but retained his place in every game since, playing an integral role as Portugal lifted the title with victory over hosts France in the final.

He has 24 caps in total for his country and featured in comfortable victories against Cyprus and Latvia in the last couple of weeks.

 

Germany are in Russia as the 2014 FIFA World Cup winners

How can I watch the FIFA Confederations Cup this month?

ITV will be covering the tournament live in the UK, across their ITV1 and ITV4 channels.