England’s World Cup draw TODAY… and here’s who Gareth Southgate’s side can get and dreaded group of death scenario
THE draw for the 2022 World Cup is nearly upon us.
And ahead of today's big event at 5pm UK time, SunSport answers all of your questions, starting with...
How does it work?
The qualified teams will be placed in four seeding pots, all decided by the new Fifa world rankings list.
England, fifth in the rankings, join hosts Qatar, new world No1 Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, Spain and Portugal in Pot One.
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But aren’t there some countries who haven’t qualified yet?
Yes, for the first time the draw will take place without all the qualified teams known.
There are three outstanding play-offs, one in Europe - with Scotland due to play Ukraine for the right to meet Wales in Cardiff - and two one-game intercontinental play-offs to be played in June.
New Zealand will meet Costa Rica while Peru await the winners of the Asian play-off between Australia and the UAE.
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So how does that affect the draw?
There are only five qualified teams in Pot Four and the three outstanding play-off ties will fill the last three places in the lowest tier.
What are the pots?
Pot 1: Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal.
Pot 2: Holland, Denmark, Mexico, Germany, USA, Uruguay, Switzerland, Croatia.
Pot 3: Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, Korea, Tunisia.
Pot 4: Canada, Cameroon, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana plus three play off winners.
And it’s a free draw after that?
No, not at all.
Fifa wants to separate teams geographically for the group stage but with 13 European sides and eight groups, it means five of the groups will contain two teams from Uefa.
No other teams can play sides from the same confederation, so England could only possibly play Scotland or Wales if they do not get any of the European sides in Pots Two or Three.
But we will know who plays who, when and where at the draw?
Another significant change from the customary World Cup draw process...
The draw will determine the eight groups and the sequence of matches.
But with all eight stadia in Qatar covered by a distance of just 42 miles from Al Bayt in the north to Al Janoub in the south, venues for the matches will be allocated by Fifa after the draw, as will the kick-off times.
OK... why?
Simple really - Fifa want to ensure the games with the biggest appeal for fans are played at the largest stadiums.
So if England are drawn with, for example, Germany, it will almost certainly be played at the Lusail Stadium, the 90,000-capacity venue for the final.
A game of that magnitude could also be played at the 60,000-seater Al Bayt, depending on which of them is due to be used that day.
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And the kick-off times?
Qatar is three hours ahead of the UK in November and the idea, with four matches played each day in the group phase, is to maximise TV viewing.
So games involving the major European teams in particular will be placed in the evening slots, probably the 10pm local time kick-off - 7pm at home.
Likewise, Asian teams like Japan, will take one of the earlier slots as Tokyo is five hours ahead of Doha.
Kick-off times in the UK are 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm.
When we will know that?
Fifa officials are preparing to work through the night after the draw and confirm the group phase schedule by Saturday lunchtime.
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What the best case scenario for England?
Probably USA, South Korea and Ghana.
And the worst?
Germany, Senegal and Ecuador.