What time zone is Russia?
By Ty Finch
The 2018 World Cup takes place in Russia this year. What time zone is Russia in?
Russia is one of the countries with the most time zones in the World with 11 recognized regions. The World Cup takes place in 11 different cities across the country, so there will be quite a few different times that matches will be taking place, especially in the group stage.
The biggest zone you will need to know for this World Cup is Moscow Standard Time, or MSK. This is where the opening match of the cup takes place, as well as one of the semifinals and the final. MSK time is Eastern Standard Time plus seven hours. The first match of the World Cup, Russia vs. Saudi Arabia, starts at 6:00 p.m. MSK time. Therefore, it begins at 11:00 a.m. EST. This is the same time zone as Saint Petersburg, where the other semifinal and third-place matches take place.
Another zone to know ahead of time is Samara Time, SAMT for short. SAMT is one hour ahead of MSK time and eight hours ahead of EST. Samara is host of a round of 16 match and one of the quarterfinals as well.
The final important time zone is Eastern European time, EET. The city of Kaliningrad resides in this particular zone, and hosts numerous group stage games. This is the furthest west zone that a World Cup match will be played. It is six hours ahead of EST.
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Here’s the full list of time zones in Russia that will host World Cup matches:
EET: Easter European Time – EST plus six
MSK: Moscow Standard Time – EST plus seven
SAMT: Samara Time – EST plus eight
YEKT: Yekaterinburg time – EST plus nine
There are many other time zones in Russia, but these are the ones that matter for this particular World Cup.