When is the World Cup draw? Who is in what pot? Who could England face? What is England's best and worst case scenario?

We are getting ever so slightly closer to the 2022 World Cup. We’re going to have to wait longer than usual in a World Cup year due to the finals taking place in the winter thanks to the weather situation in Qatar.

However the draw will take place on Friday which will give all the talking heads (including us!) something to prattle on about for the next few months until we get down to the nitty gritty.

Ahead of the draw we’re going to round up some of the key information that you need to know.

Hey we just told you. But to confirm, the draw will take place on Friday April 1. Insert your own April Fool’s joke here.

The draw will take place at 17:00 BST.

The best bet is FIFA’s officials channels. So that means FIFA.com and then their Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.

So you can check out our article that breaks all of that down by federation here.

Which teams are in which pot for the 2022 World Cup draw?

Okay so here we go based on the rankings/qualifying path.

Okay, so disclaimer here. This is not meant to be as any form of disrespect or anything like that. There is no team like England for underrating and disrespecting other countries either in their preparation or in the media. This is just based on which teams we think are probably at a low point at this moment in time.

So with that caveat out the way, here we go.

Right so here’s the reasoning. In Pot 2 I stayed away from most of the European teams because they seem the best-placed at the moment. Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark are all in fine form and have strong squads. Croatia were tempted as they age but let’s be honest, England and Croatia is not a good match for English fans for the most part. Switzerland were also extremely tempting but they did top their group that contained Italy which has to count for something. They certainly ride their luck against the bigger teams but that might be the sort of side Southgate’s team struggles against in a tournament.

I don’t really like where Uruguay are in their cycle, particularly at the back, but they are exactly the sort of team who can do to England what Atletico Madrid did to Manchester United. So that leaves us with the two from CONCACAF. The US are a real wild card, they have some exceptional players but you never really know what you’re going to get. Again, that feels risky.

That leaves us with Mexico. This seems like a strange choice given they are the ninth seed but this Mexico team is definitely in flux. They are a really weird team with few obvious standout players and a lot of the squad who are in the twilight of their career. England should theoretically be able to deal with that.

So for Pot 3 and 4 the reasoning was a little bit more straight forward. With most of the teams in Pot 3 the teams normally had one or two danger forwards who I felt would be a real problem for England’s backline. Think Sadio Mane, Dusan Vlahovic, Robert Lewandowski and Heung-min Son.

So looking at the remaining options I went for Tunisia. Mostly because I feel like whilst they are very well-organised defensively they don’t offer a lot going forward. With the attacking riches at Southgate’s disposal, that could be perfect. In Pot 4 although New Zealand or Costa Rica will be a tricky task it does feel as if they are going to be the weakest option on the cards. The winner of the AFC-Conmebol play-off was also under consideration as was Ghana.

Slightly shorter explanation here as most should be fairly self-explanatory. Germany are always a threat despite falling short in recent tournaments and the level of their talent cannot be ignored. Senegal are the African champions and like Germany their squad speaks for itself. Pot 4 is a little tricky as I feel most of the teams are fairly level. There is some bias involved here but Canada could make some real noise in Qatar. They are a well-organised, counter-attacking team, just the sort of side England don’t want to face.