It begins today!

MUNICH, Germany — It’s potentially the hottest television show in the history of the world, and it debuts today.

By the time it ends July 9, soccer’s World Cup will have been viewed by a combined audience of 5 billion, a British media research company told The Guardian newspaper. The world’s population is 6.5 billion.

The championship game alone is expected to be seen by 300 million, more than double the number that watch the Super Bowl or the opening ceremony of the Olympics. If the 5 billion figure proves accurate, the 64 matches will average more than 78 million viewers. By comparison, the "American Idol" season finale drew 36 million. Read more of this: Rocky Mountain News: The world is watching.

The opening ceremony in Munich will be a short and simple welcome, only few official speeches and musical entertainment, Toni Braxton will be performing too. Then the opening match from Group A is Germany vs Costa Rica kick off at exactly 10:00 AM MST. Then the second match also from Group A is Poland vs Ecuador at 01:00 PM MST, both aired by ESPN2.

German national soccer team captain Michael Ballack will be absent from the June 9th opening game vs Costa Rica.