Short answers, pulled from the story.
Russia won the right to host the tournament on the 2nd of December 2010 after securing nine votes in the second round of voting. The decision followed a bidding process that began in January 2009 and involved multiple countries including Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Netherlands.
Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time in history with Iceland becoming the smallest country by population to reach the finals. Egypt returned to the finals after their last appearance in 1990 while Morocco returned after missing out since 1998.
France won the final match against Croatia on the 15th of July at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow with a score of four goals to two. This victory made France the fourth consecutive European team to win the tournament following Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010, and Germany in 2014.
The event had an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion making it the most expensive World Cup in history. The Russian government originally earmarked a budget of around $20 billion which was later slashed to $10 billion for preparations before half was spent on transportation infrastructure.
VAR operations were implemented during the tournament starting from the match between Russia and Saudi Arabia on the 14th of June. Diego Costa's goal against Portugal on the 15th of June became the first World Cup goal based on a VAR decision while the first penalty awarded via VAR occurred in the match between France and Australia on the 16th of June.