The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup takes place today and plenty of fans are speculating about the potential opponents who Gareth Southgate’s England could face.
We’ve taken a look at the format of the draw and picked out some of the more favourable, and most difficult, groups that England could be drawn against later on today.
Draw rules
Unlike previous World Cups, all teams will be placed in pots based by their FIFA World Ranking and not their continental confederation.
Pot 1 contains the highest-ranked teams, Pot 2 containing the next highest-ranked teams, and so on.
However, two teams from each confederation can’t be drawn in the same group other than UEFA, who can have a maximum of two.
England
England will be in Pot 2, based on their FIFA ranking. The bad news is that they’ll be drawn against a tough Pot 1 opponent, the good news is they can’t draw Spain, Uruguay or Croatia.
Toughest possible draw by rankings
Based on the rankings, England’s toughest draw could be:
Germany, Costa Rica and Nigeria.
In truth, England would probably be happy with this draw if they got it.
Weakest possible draw by rankings
Based on the rankings, England’s easiest group would be:
France, Iran and Panama.
Again, Southgate would be happy with this.
Subjective toughest possible draw
FIFA rankings don’t always tell the true story, and the fact that England can only play one other UEFA side distorts things too.
Subjectively, the toughest draw they could get is:
Brazil, Denmark and Australia.
Subjective weakest possible draw
On the flip side, ignoring rankings, England could get this group, which would delight them:
Poland, Iran, Panama.
Best Players
In terms of a draw which would pit England against not the best teams, but the best individual players, England could find themselves drawn against Lionel Messi’s Argentina, Sadio Mane’s Senegal and Son Heung-min’s South Korea.