The FIFA World Cup™is coming back with a bang. The road to Russia 2018reopens this Thursday, 1 September, when the top 12 teams in the Asian zone will kick off their third round of qualifying, while some mouth-watering matches are in store over in South America that same day, including Ecuador-Brazil, Argentina-Uruguay and Paraguay-Chile.

On Friday it will be the turn of the CONCACAFcountries, who are primed for several decisive encounters in the penultimate set of Round 4 fixtures. Mexico have already booked their place in the next stage and the battle for the other five tickets to the fifth and final round promises to be a thrilling one. The week will conclude in style with the start of European qualifyingon Sunday: Slovakia-England, Romania-Montenegro and Norway-Germany are just a few of the games to look forward to.

As ever, FIFA.com will be pulling out all the stops on its Live Blog so that you can follow all the actionas it happens. Log on to check the scores, keep abreast of every incident – including all the goals as they go in – and view the latest standings, among other things.

As if that were not enough, throughout the week we will be bringing you exclusive interviews with a host of big names. Where current players are concerned, conversations with Benedikt Howedes, Valter Birsa, Kari Arnason, Ivica Olic and Daniel Torres will be coming your way.

However, we will also be taking trips down memory lane with Clarence Seedorf, who will be looking back in particular at the Netherlands' superb campaign at France 1998, and legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings, Northern Ireland's most capped player, who represented his country on the global stage in 1986.

Of course, we will also be keeping you posted on other upcoming FIFA Tournaments and on events in the women's game. And, with all our regular featuresthrown into the bargain, plus the best videos and photos, you are bound to have a ball on FIFA.comthis week.