Mitch Freeley

The Draw

So here are the groups in full. 

• Group A: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay
• Group B: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran
• Group C: France, Australia, Peru, Denmark
• Group D: Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
• Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
• Group F: Germany, Sweden, Mexico, South Korea
• Group G: Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England
• Group H: Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan

So that's it! The World Cup draw is done! Everything is summed up neatly in the video below! 

Host Gary Lineker is out! He's explaining the Draw! Get on with it!  

Next up! Carles Puyol lifted the World Cup with Spain in 2010. The defender scored the only goal in Spain’s 1-0 win over Germany in the Semi-final. 

Sixth out! Cafu is the only draw assistant who has won two World Cups having played a part in 1994 & 2002 victories for Brazil. Widely considered the best right back of his generation. Cafu enjoyed a distinguished club career, playing for Roma & AC Milan in Italy.

Next up Laurent Blanc was the vice-captain of France when they lifted the World Cup on home soil in 1998. The classy defender also had a reputation for kissing team-mate Fabien Bartez on his shaven head for good luck, which is erm nice.

What can you say about Diego Maradona? He's Fourth out! The Argentinian is considered one of the best ever and single-handedly helped his country to World Cup glory in Mexcio 1986. Other World Cup moments for the diminutive playmaker include the hand of god, and that wild-eyed celebration against Greece in USA 94.

Third out, Diego Forlan may not have won the World Cup with Uruguay, but the former Manchester United and Athletico Madrid striker did pick up the golden ball for the best player in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Forlan also finished the tournament as the joint top goal scorer with 5 goals.  

Second, Russian football legend Nikita Simonyan represented the Soviet Union in their first ever World Cup in the 1958 tournament in Sweden.

First up! Gordon Banks, who won the World Cup in 1966 with England, Banks is one of the greatest ever English keepers and pulled off a stunning save in 1970 Mexico World Cup to deny Pele (Give it a watch on Youtube, you won’t be disappointed)

Okay, down to business! The draw assistants are heading out.....

Time for a spot of Russian dance... The Moiseyev Ballet are dancing some kinda traditional jig.... Magic!

Up pops Miroslav Klose! The current leading World Cup goalscorer won the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. 

All smiles from England boss Gareth Southgate, I wonder how happy he will be by the end of the draw? 

Opening speeches from Vladimir Putin and Gianni Infantino. So far, so normal! Draw should be starting around 6:30pm 

We are go in Russia! You can watch it all LIVE exclusively via our beIN CONNECT service.

Pre-draw.

Just minutes to go. So who can win it? 

30 minute Klaxon! Getting excited?! Drawn out all the groups on a piece of paper like me? Unlikely. 

Just a quick updates on the pots. Just so you can work out the groups. 

Pot 1: Russia (hosts), Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France. 

Pot 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Croatia

Pot 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran

Pot 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

Just in case you don't fancy following along online, you can watch it all LIVE exclusively via our beIN CONNECT service.

Draw assistant Maradona has arrived, and I must say that he's scrubbed up pretty well. Just look at that magical bowtie. 

Things are warming up in Moscow (not literally) and the great and good of the footballing world are arriving at the State Kremlin Palace. 

Pundit Predictions

Our pundits have had their say on their favourites and surprise packages ahead of the draw. 

Trevor Francis- "Brazil have some exciting players, but they are more of a collective unit now, and there is much to admire in the current Brazilian team."

"Slight dark horses could be Egypt. They have shown that they can be a more than useful team."

Jan Åge Fjørtoft- "Germany will always be the favourite, they can put three teams out and they did that when they won the confederations cup in the summer." 

"England can surprise if Harry Kane can get going and the younger players improving, they can potentially rise to the occasion." 

David Platt- "I think the favourites for me would have to be France, but you also have to look at Germany." 

"A surprise package for me would be Belgium if you look at them pound for pound and player for player they should be doing better for me. They have several good players." 

Just over an hour to go before the World Cup draw in Moscow. You can join me for live updates from the State Kremlin Palace, and see groups drawn out via application below!. The draw can also be watched exclusively via our beIN CONNECT service. 

The draw for the 2018 World Cup is set to take place on Friday the 1st of December with beIN SPORTS 11 HD covering the event in English from 5pm MECCA, with the draw taking place at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. You can also watch the draw also in Arabic and French in HD1 & HD 14 respectively. Whilst the draw can be watched exclusively via our beIN CONNECT service. 

Presenter Angus Scott will be joined by former player Trevor Francis who represented England at Spain 82, David Platt who had a starring role with England at Italia 90 and Jan Åge Fjørtoft who represented Norway at the 1994 tournament held in the USA. Whilst reporter Carrie Brown will be getting all the latest views live from the draw. 

Along with extensive coverage on television, you can stay up to date on the World Cup draw via our social media channels who will be posting live updates on the event. 

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Former England striker Gary Lineker will host the event, and be supported by Maria Komandnaya, at Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace. Eight draw assistants including seven World Cup winners will be helping the draw.  Laurent Blanc, Gordon Banks, Cafu, Fabio Cannavaro, Diego Forlan, Diego Maradona, Carles Puyol and Russian football legend Nikita Simonyan will be taking part in the showpiece ceremony. 

How the draw works

 All 32 teams have been separated into four separate pots of eight teams based on their World Rankings, aside from hosts Russia. The pots are noted below: 

 Pot 1: Russia (hosts), Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France. Pot 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, CroatiaPot 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, IranPot 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

 The draw will start with all eight teams from pot 1 being distributed to the eight groups from A-H. As hosts of the tournament, Russia has already been confirmed in group A. In order to ensure fairness teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn into the same group. The only exception to this will be European countries with a maximum of two European counties being able to be drawn in the same group.  The draw will move from pot to pot, with the teams allocated to their respective group taking into consideration the need to avoid geographic clashes. 

To make everything easier to can follow our live draw below with our World Cup group tracker below.