It only happens once every four years, but when the World Cup arrives, along with it are big TV schedule changes for the nation's beloved soap operas. With cancellations, late transmissions and hour-long episodes, here's a full guide to how the football will affect your favourite soaps.

The World Cup throws our favourite soaps out into the schedule wilderness as games clash with episodes and football emerges as the winner.

While football supporters are overjoyed to welcome the World Cup, soap fans are not quite as happy to see their favourite dramas booted out of place in order to allow the beautiful game to run its course over the next few weeks.

But fear not – there will still be the same amount of screen time for the soaps, it's just when you can catch them that will change – but you know what they say, variety is the spice of life and it'll be worth it if England win the World Cup, if only to see how all the soaps shoehorn in a hastily-filmed segment to mention the fact.

At least 16 evenings when the soaps would normally air are affected by the competition in Russia but the key is to remember that the action is just being moved, not cancelled. It's one thing to miss a goal, it's quite another to miss the episode where we find out what Phil knows about Vincent, the truth about Amelia's disappearance, what Johnny and Liz are planning and who Kayla really is. So here are all those changes in full so you don't miss a thing.

Soap schedule changes from June 12 to 22

Tuesday June 12: Emmerdale, 7pm (hour-long episode); EastEnders, 7.30pm

Wednesday June 13: Emmerdale, 7pm; Coronation Street, 7.30pm and 8.30pm

Thursday, June 14: Emmerdale, 7pm; EastEnders, 7.30pm; Emmerdale, 8pm

Friday, June 15: Emmerdale (hour-long episode), 7pm; Coronation Street, 8pm; EastEnders, 9.10pm

Monday, June 18: EastEnders, (hour-long episode) 9.25pm. No Coronation Street or Emmerdale.

Tuesday, June 19: Emmerdale (hour-long episode) 7pm; Coronation Street (hour-long episode) 8pm. No EastEnders.

Wednesday, June 20: No Emmerdale or Coronation Street.

Thursday, June 21: Emmerdale (hour-long episode) 7pm; Coronation Street (hour-long episode) 8pm; EastEnders, 9.10pm

Friday, June 22: Emmerdale (hour-long episode) 7pm; Coronation Street (hour-long episode) 8pm; EastEnders, 9.10pm