This weekend will see the opening of the Qatar World Cup, with Sunday's opening fixture between Qatar and Ecuador to open the tournament.
Also this weekend, we will see a special horse race taking place at Haydock Park on Saturday with six horses representing the World Cup favourites to give punters a taste of who might be leading the race to win the tournament.
It follows a strong tradition of animals predicting World Cup fixtures, with their unbiased views well supported by fans. Most famously, Paul the octopus correctly predicted eight successive results during the 2010 World Cup, including the final between Spain and the Netherlands.
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The race will have six horses, with each one bearing the colours of six favourites to win the tournament, England, Brazil, France, Argentina, Spain and Germany.
The World Cup Stakes will take place at 11:30am, 40 minutes before the main card begins and will be a five furlong race with horses ridden by professional jockeys, including Bryony Frost riding the England entry.
The Betfair Chase is the featured race of the day, with A Plus Tard running as the main attraction. Betfair spokesman Barry Orr told Racing TV: "We're running a race over five furlongs in Haydock Park to determine the outcome of this year's World Cup.
"Obviously Paul the Octopus did it a couple of years back. Each horse represents one of the top six teams in the betting. We're raising £10,000 for the Injured Jockeys Fund so it's going to be a bit of fun."
The race will be shown live on ITV, with Frost wearing white and red silks to represent Southgate's side who are 8-1 to win the tournament.
Former England manager Glenn Hoddle will present the trophy following the race which takes place just over 24 hours before the World Cup gets underway on Sunday.
