World Cup draw: What time is it? Who could England get? What teams have qualified?
THE World Cup draw takes place this afternoon as England and the rest of the countries taking part learn their group fate - here’s all you need to know.
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What is it?
The draw for the 2018 World Cup draw in Russia - the biggest tournament in world football - is taking place ahead of next summer’s tournament.
32 teams will find out which group they’ve been placed in for the group stages of the tournament.
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When and where is the World Cup draw taking place?
The World Cup draw will take place in the capital of Russia, Moscow at the State Kremlin Palace.
The draw kicks off at 6pm local time, which is 3pm GMT.
Who is hosting the World Cup draw?
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker will host the draw and will be co-presenting with Russian journalist Maria Komandnaya.
Lineker and Komandnaya will be assisted at the draw by eight major names from World Cups past: France’s Laurent Blanc, England’s Gordon Banks, Brazil’s Cafu, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, Uruguay’s Diego Forlán, Argentina’s Diego Maradona, Spain’s Carles Puyol and Russia’s Nikita Simonyan.
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How will the World Cup draw work?
32 teams will compete for the World Cup next summer, 31 of them qualifying and Russia entering as the host nation.
The teams have been split into four pots based on their current Fifa world rankings with Pot 1 featuring Russia and the seven highest ranked teams.
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Pot 2 features the next best eight teams and so on.
The draw will see eight groups of four from A to H with each team playing three matches in their group with the top two qualifying for the knockout stages.
What are the pots for the World Cup draw?
Pot 1: Russia (hosts), Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France
Pot 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Croatia
Pot 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran
Pot 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
Which pot are England in and who could they get?
England are in Pot 2 so could get any one of Brazil, Germany, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France or host nations Russia.
What’s the worst possible outcome for England?
Based on the Fifa rankings, the worst draw for England would be Germany, Costa Rica and Nigeria.
What’s the best possible outcome for England?
Based on the Fifa rankings the best possible outcome for England would be Russia, Senegal and Saudi Arabia.
When is the World Cup?
The World Cup starts on June 14 with the final on July 15.
