Share this: The 2018 FIFA World Cup begins exactly one year away, so it’s now time for soccer’s premier warm-up act. The 2017 Confederations Cup will kick off Saturday in Russia, when the host nation taking on New Zealand in front of legions of fans in attendance and hundreds of millions more watching from near and far. The competition features eight teams: the host of the upcoming World Cup; the reigning World Cup winner and the six most recent winners of each continent’s championship tournament. It’s men’s international soccer’s official tournament of champions. Watch our primer to see why the Confederations Cup is so important. FormatTwo groups consisting of teams will play a round-robin group stage. The top two teams in each group will advance