Both the BBC and ITV face a hectic turnaround in deciding who gets to broadcast which matches from the World Cup’s round of 32 in the coming days.
The duo are the two national broadcasters in the United Kingdom for the tournament, and get an even split over how many matches they each show throughout the World Cup.
The 72-game group stage round will conclude in the early hours of Sunday morning (BST), and attention will soon turn to the first knockout round.
That gets under way on Sunday night at 20:00 BST, with co-hosts Canada facing South Africa in the first of 16 matches in that round.
In the immediate aftermath of the conclusion, bosses from the BBC and ITV will start the selection process for matches in the round of 32.
The BBC will get the first pick of the 16 matches when they have been formally confirmed, with many lineups not known until after the entirety of the group stage is concluded.
As well as the first match kicking off around 15 hours after the conclusion of the group stage, both the BBC and ITV will have to make last minute changes to their pre-planned programming schedules once they know which of the round of the 32 matches they will be showing.
A BBC spokesperson said: “It will be an early start and a very long Sunday confirming which matches we have in the first knockout stage and then sorting out all that needs to be arranged for that, but we are really looking forward to confirming the line up for this first round of 32 at a World Cup.”
Matches in the round of 32 will take place between Sunday, 28 June and Saturday, 4 July (BST).
This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.
