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FIFA World Cup draw: How England might fare

England enter Friday afternoon’s World Cup draw with mixed prospects after being thrown into pot two.

All 32 nations who have qualified will be drawn into eight groups containing one team from each of the four pots.

The pots are decided by the FIFA World Rankings going into October; except for Russia who go straight into pot one. After the hosts, the top seven ranked teams are in pot one, the next eight in pot two, and so on.

Groups can only contain a maximum of two European teams and no more than one from any other football confederation. So no African, Asian or South American teams can face each other in the group stage.

Here’s a full run down of the pots:

Pot one: Russia (hosts), Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France

Pot two: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Croatia

Pot three: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran

Pot four: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

England must face one team from pot one, which includes the likes of Germany and Brazil. The Three Lions will most likely be hoping for Poland or the hosts themselves out of that.

England’s potential group of death

FIFA Rankings say: Germany, Costa Rica and Nigeria

SWL says: Brazil, Egypt and Serbia

England’s best case scenario

FIFA Rankings say: Russia, Senegal and Saudi Arabia

SWL says: Russia, Tunisia and Panama

Follow SWL’s live coverage of the draw from 3pm.

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