It's the third Saturday of June, which can mean only one thing! It's time for the 2017 Confederations Cup!
What do you mean you don't know what that is?
Yes, the quadrennial warm-up tournament for the World Cup begins this afternoon when Russia take on New Zealand at 4pm in Moscow. We here at Balls are extremely excited, the dastardly football hipsters that we are.
But why should you be as excited as us? Read on for five reasons to get pumped for the Tournament of Champions!
It's the only bit of competitive international football for a while
The international fixture list looks quite bare of competition during the summer. At least, until September, when the World Cup qualifying returns. But the Confederations Cup acts as a go-between and to be fair, there are some top sides present.
Germany, Portugal, Chile, Mexico, Cameroon, and Australia are all heading to host nation Russia. Not to add New Zealand - unbeaten at the World Cup finals and conquerors of the mighty Cabinteely.
Well, it's not called the Tournament of Champions for no reason!
It's on RTE
Looking for an excuse to head down to the beer garden to enjoy some of the refreshments? Your local will easily be able to show the competition, as every game is live on RTE. Which should help ward off any home arguments about Fair City too.
Although don't expect RTE to wheel out A-listers Dunphy and Brady too often.
It's a preview of the World Cup
The 2013 Confederations Cup had a lot of standout moments. Mainly, Tahiti being 3-0 down against Nigeria but managing to score and everyone flipping out because of it. We miss you too Jonathan Tehau.
But in the final, we got a real sense that things were changing. All throughout the tournament, Brazil's golden boy was living up to the hype. Neymar finished with four goals in total - winning the Golden Ball in the process. He helped Brazil take down Spain in the final with relative ease. It was the first signs that the all-conquering Spaniards were on the decline.
Something which played out in the same venue the following year, when the Netherlands hit five past them.
As for Neymar and Brazil? It was all going so well until the quarter-final against Colombia. Despite getting through, Neymar's World Cup was over due to injury - and Brazil would pay dearly in the semis against Germany.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal Tim Cahill AND Chris Wood are all there
While some nations have left their big hitters at home (looking at you Germany), others have a full deck. The European champions are making their debut, and as such have enlisted CR7, Andre Gomes and Joao Moutinho amongst others. Mexico toppled Ireland with what was their Confederations Cup squad, while Chile and Australia have brought their top teams as well.
Oh, and Chris Wood will be there with New Zealand.
It's had some absolute belters over the years
So sit back, pick a random country from the sweepstakes in work which probably don't exist and enjoy two fantastic weeks of football.
Hopefully.
