England will discover their group stage opponents at Qatar 2022 when the World Cup draw is made this Friday.
Gareth Southgate’s men enter the draw among the favourites having reached the semi-finals in 2018 and the final of Euro 2020.
Thirty-two teams will be drawn into eight groups of four, with teams divided into four pots based on their position in the Fifa world rankings which were updated on Thursday.
England’s fifth-placed Fifa ranking means they are placed in Pot 1 meaning they should, in theory, be handed a kind draw.
When is the World Cup 2022 draw?
The World Cup 2022 draw takes place at 5pm BST on Friday 1 April. It is being held at the Doha Exhibition & Convention Center.
You can watch the draw live on BBC One from 4.45pm until 6.00pm, when the coverage will switch to BBC Two until 6.30pm.
The broadcast is being hosted by Mark Chapman, with commentary from Jonathan Pearce, and you will be able to watch live online via BBC iPlayer here.
Who could England face at World Cup 2022?
While England will avoid South American heavyweights like Argentina, Brazil and defending champions France who are also in Pot 1, there are still some very difficult opponents they could face.
Among the most difficult teams in Pot 2 are old rivals Germany, 2018 conquerors Croatia and the always strong Netherlands.
African champions Senegal are in Pot 3 alongside the likes of Son Heung-min’s South Korea, Robert Lewandowski’s Poland and Dusan Vlahovic’s Serbia.
A resurgent Canada sit in Pot 4 with African heavyweights Ghana and Cameroon. Scroll down for the full list of teams.
What about Scotland and Wales?
The conclusion of the play-off path featuring Scotland, Wales and Ukraine has been delayed to June because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
To overcome this in the draw, the three teams will be treated as one draw “placeholder” and have been allocated to pot four alongside the lowest-ranked countries.
Are there any other places still to be determined?
Yes – the winners of the intercontinental play-offs which take place in June. Peru will take on either Australia or the United Arab Emirates, plus Costa Rica (Concacaf) face New Zealand (OFC).
Are there any other draw rules to be aware of?
Qatar will be placed into Group A from pot one, with the other top seeds assigned to groups B through to H in turn. Once placed in a group, they will be assigned a number in the group between one and four.
Qatar are automatically designated as A1, and will feature in the opening match of the tournament on November 21. The pots will be emptied in turn, from pot one all the way down to pot four.
World Cup draw pots
Pot 1
- Qatar
- Brazil
- Belgium
- France
- Argentina
- England
- Spain
- Portugal
Pot 2
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Denmark
- Germany
- Uruguay
- Switzerland
- USA
- Croatia
Pot 3
- Senegal
- Iran
- Japan
- Morocco
- Serbia
- Poland
- South Korea
- Tunisia
Pot 4
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Ecuador
- Saudi Arabia
- Ghana
- Costa Rica/New Zealand
- UAE/Australia/Peru
- Wales/Scotland/Ukraine
Can teams from the same continent be drawn together?
Fifa says that whenever possible teams from the same confederation will not be drawn together at the group stage, with the exception of Europe where each group can contain a maximum of two teams from the continent.
Anything else?
The match schedule will not be confirmed until after the group draw has taken place, to afford scope to provide suitable kick-off times for television audiences in the countries involved or for spectators in Qatar.
When is the World Cup?
The finals get under way on 21 November, and finish on 18 December. There will be up to four matches a day in the group stage. Matches at the group stage will kick off at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm GMT.
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