How will the draw work?
The teams are divided into four pots based on the Fifa rankings published on Thursday. Pot 1 comprises Qatar as hosts and the seven highest-ranked qualified teams. Pot 2 has the next eight highest-ranked qualified teams, Pot 3 the eight highest-qualified after that, and Pot 4 the five best-ranked teams after that and placeholders representing the two winners of the intercontinental playoffs and the remaining European playoff winner.
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, Wales/Scotland/Ukraine, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Peru/UAE/Australia.
Each group will contain one team from each pot. First each team in Pot 1 will be allocated a group, then each team in Pots 2, 3 and 4 to create eight groups of four. Each pot will be emptied before the next pot is drawn. Qatar will be allocated position A1 but in every other case a ball will be drawn from a team pot, then a ball drawn from a group pot to determine where they will be placed.
Teams from the same confederation will be kept apart in the groups with the exception of European teams, of which there will be 13. Five of the eight groups will have two European teams.
