The 2018 UENA World Cup was the international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of UENA. It was scheduled to take place in Orioni throughout June and July 2018. It was the first World Cup to be held in Orioni.
The tournament involved 16 national teams from the three major confederations, which include 15 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 31 matches were played at venues located in 14 cities across the country.[1] The opening match took place on June 14th at the Zuidmax Stadium in Zuidhaven and the final took place on July 14th at the New National Stadium in O'polis. Sunset Sea Islands won the World Cup, after beating Variota in a sudden death penalty kick shoot-out following the two teams tieing in regulation and neither team scoring during extended play.
The choice for the official World Cup anthem was made by the Andro Academy of Fine Arts. From half a dozen nominations, the preference went to L'Été Oriental by Baloji, a musician-refugee from the war-torn nation of Afropa.[2]
The 16 teams that qualified for the World Cup were arranged into 4 groups on June 13th, the day before the commencement of the tournament, at the Palace of Arts in Andro, Orioni. At the conclusion of that ceremony, the groups were as follows:
Group A: Orioni (host), Derthalen, Shffahkia, Variota
Group B: Adaptus, Fulgistan, Iverica, Selayar
Group C: Asgeirria, Eurofuhrer, Gallambria, Mauridiviah
Group D: Cristina, Morheim, Prymont, Sunset Sea Islands