As many would term it, the glorious month of football kicks off today and this will see 32 nations and 736 stars come together and unite the world for a month through soccer. It is this love for the game that has seen Google create a doodle to mark the 2014 FIFA World Cup kick-off today.

The internet giant has devised one of its iconic moving illustrations to commemorate the 20th staging of the global football extravaganza, which this year takes place in Brazil.

The interactive doodle begins by showing a yellow and blue colored football bouncing into view from stage left.

The ball comes to a halt in the centre of the screen, at which point the letters making up the word Google come alive and begin to jump up and down in a carefree manner.

As the letters let themselves go in the foreground, the vista of Rio de Janeiro opens up into view behind them.

Golden sands and palm trees can be seen along with cable cars furiously conveying passengers to and from the top of the city's iconic Sugar Loaf Mountain.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer watches the carnival scene impassively, while the summer sun rotates in an unusual fashion.

Once you click on the doodle, you taken to the google archive where you get to see various stories on FIFA World Cup, with the first being the FIFA World Cup timetable.

The first World Cup was won by hosts Uruguay in 1930 and the first game kicks off today at 11pm at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Brazil will face Croatia in the opening game. The last FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa, which saw Spain emerge as winners of 2010 World Cup.

Brazil has won the competition five times before (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002) but never on home soil.