No, not that FIFA, this is football’s official governing body. It’s just launched its own app, with plenty of features for footie fans. But the coolest, and most relevant, is the ability to live stream the draw for this summer’s World Cup, right to your phone or tablet.
The draw takes place this Friday in Costa do Sauipe in Bahia, in Brazil. The action will start at 1pm local time, which is 4pm UK time. Might as well clock off for the day, seeing as it’s a Friday and all.
You’ll get the match schedule and team profiles you’d expect for the World Cup, as well as a destination guide, which sounds like a nice touch. Once the draw is done, and all 32 countries know who they’re playing, you can plot your team’s path to glory on the app. Let’s just hope there aren’t any penalties this year, I don’t know if my poor heart can take it.
The FIFA Coca-Cola World Rankings are also part of the app, so you can see just where Roy Hodgkinson’s lads currently sit. 13th, if you were wondering. Unlucky for some.
The app is free on iOS and Android, so Windows Phone has missed out. As well as the World Cup, it promises “unrivalled” coverage of 197 footie leagues from all over the world. It’ll show breaking stories, galleries from Getty Images, as well as videos from the FIFA TV Studio and FIFA archives.
The iOS app works on iPhone and iPad, and requires iOS 5.1 or later. On Android, you’ll have to have version 2.3 — that’s Gingerbread — or later.
Have you tried the app? Will you be watching the draw live when you should be working? Let me know in the comments, or over on our Facebook page.