Saturday, April 20

LIVE: 2022 World Cup draw


Follow the draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup live with ESPN, starting with all the build-up before the ceremony itself begins at 4 p.m. GMT, midday ET.

LIVE BLOG

NB: Please refresh the page to get the latest updates…..

13.11 ET / 17.11 / GMT: NOW DRAWING POT 4:

STILL TO DRAW: Cameroon, Canada, Ghana, Wales or Scotland / Ukraine

First out, and it’s Peru or Australia / United Arab Emirates. They have to go into Group D2 due to the draw constraints.

Ecuador are out next, and they will be into A2 and play the opening game of the finals, against hosts Qatar.

Next, it’s Saudi Arabia and they have to go into C2.

Costa Rica or New Zealand up next, and they can’t go into the U.S. group. That means that playoff ties jump to E2.

13.03 ET / 17.03 / GMT:

IR Iran are first out in Pot 3 and they will play United States and England! IR Iran are B2 and will play England first.

Next out, it’s Senegal. They go into A3.

And Poland are C4.

Serbia cannot go into D, E and F as there’s already two European teams. So they go to G with Brazil and Switzerland. G2, and Serbia play Brazil first.

Tunisia will play France and Denmark, drawn to D4.

And in E4 it’s Japan.

Morocco are going Group F3, and South Korea into H.

12.54 ET / 16.54 / GMT:

First out… it’s Netherlands. They go into A4.

And it’s United States vs. England Group B on Friday, Nov. 25! The U.S. are B3.

Into Group C, it’s Mexico! Mexico into position 3.

Denmark are the fourth team out into D3.

And now we have… Germany! They will play Spain in Group E! Position 3.

And Croatia go into F4.

Uruguay are next out, but for the first time we have a block on the draw. They cannot join Brazil in Group G, so Uruguay go to H3 with Portugal.

So Switzerland are into G3.

12.47 ET / 16.47 / GMT: NOW DRAWING POT 1:

G1 is Brazil, and that means H1 is Portugal.

F1 next, it’s Belgium.

Now E1 for Spain.

France are into Group D1.

And second out, it’s Argentina! They go into C1.

England are first out after Qatar and into Group B! They go into B2.

12.46 ET / 16.46 / GMT: Here we go!

12.44 ET / 16.44 / GMT: Now the draw procedure is being explained to us. Surely not long to go…

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12.39 ET / 16.39 / GMT: The eight FIFA legends who will make the draw are now being introduced.

For a reminder, that’s Cafu (Brazil), Lothar Matthaus (Germany), Adel Ahmed MalAllah (Qatar), Ali Daei (IR Iran), Bora Milutinovic (Serbia/Mexico), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Rabah Madjer (Algeria) and Tim Cahill (Australia).

12.35 ET / 16.35 GMT: We’ve just watched a video about the story of Qatar hosting the World Cup, and now U.S. soccer legend and two-time Women’s World Cup winner Carli Lloyd, former England player Jermaine Jenas and British-Jamaican sports presenter Samantha Johnson have entered the stage for the draw!

They are giving their own little speeches, so we won’t get any teams drawn out for a few minutes yet.

12.32 ET / 16.32 GMT: France coach Didier Deschamps is bringing out the World Cup trophy onto the stage. France won the 2018 World Cup final by beating Croatia 4-2. He’s answering a few questions from the hosts.

12.29 ET / 16.29 GMT: It’s time! Here’s a reminder of your draw pots.

12.27 ET / 16.27 GMT: Hosts Idris Elba and Reshmin Chowdhury are now wrapping up the first part of the ceremony with a tribute to some famous footballers who have died recently, including Diego Maradona, Gordon Banks and Gerd Muller.

12.25 ET / 16.25 GMT: So, this is how the draw is going to work.

– It will begin with Pot 1, the strongest pot. A team will be drawn into a position in each group (1, 2, 3 or 4) apart from Qatar, who will be A1.
– After Pot 1, we go through 2, 3 and 4 and empty each pot before moving on.
– There must be no more than one team from each region, apart from Europe. There will be 5 groups with two teams from Europe. Every group must have at least one team from Europe.

12.20 ET / 16.20 GMT: Not long to go now. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has arrived to give his pre-draw speech.

12.17 ET / 16.17 GMT: Every tournament must have an official mascot, and for the Qatar World Cup it’s La’eeb!

12.11 ET / 16.11 GMT: So who exactly is making the draw? Only some soccer legends!

Cafu (Brazil) and Lothar Matthaus (Germany) will team up with six more assistants. They are joined by Adel Ahmed MalAllah (Qatar), Ali Daei (IR Iran), Bora Milutinovic (Serbia/Mexico), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Rabah Madjer (Algeria) and Tim Cahill (Australia).

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12.05 ET / 16.05 GMT: The ceremony, hosted by actor Idris Elba, is getting under way in Doha.

Right now, there’s six people within illuminated rings spinning around on the stage. It’s what we all wanted, after all.

There’s plenty more of this stuff before we get any teams drawn.

11.59 ET / 15.59 GMT: The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada… and the presidents of the FAs have turned up to see how it’s done. From left to right, Canada’s Nick Bontis, U.S. Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone, and Mexican Football Federation president Yon de Luisa.

11.52 ET / 15.52 GMT: Looking at possible draws…. how about a group of England, United States, South Korea and Ghana? After all, the U.S. always draws Ghana!

Of course, the dream draw for the U.S. and Mexico, both in draw Pot 2, is to get the hosts, Qatar.

Qatar are ranked 51st in the world, while the rest of Pot 1 (Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal) are the top ranked countries in the world.

So U.S. and Mexico would love to get perhaps Qatar, South Korea and Ghana.

11.45 ET / 15.45 GMT: Only 15 minutes until the draw ceremony gets under way. This is what they’re all playing for…

11.41 ET / 15.41 GMT: Coach Tite and legends Kaka and Bebeto are among the entourage who are in Qatar to see who tournament favourites Brazil will get in their group.

11.36 ET / 15.36 GMT: After over 11 years since they won the bid to host the World Cup, Friday is a landmark day for Qatar’s biggest event yet. Now, stuff gets real. ESPN’s Gab Marcotti discusses Qatar as a surprise host country.

11.31 ET / 15.31 GMT: The United States failed to qualify for the World Cup in 2018. But this time it is BACK! What has changed since then?

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Taylor Twellman breaks down what’s changed for United States soccer from not qualifying in 2018 to now.

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11.25 ET / 15.25 GMT: Qatar will be the smallest country to ever host a World Cup finals. Just to give you an idea of the size of Qatar (11,571 sq. km), it’s smaller than Connecticut (14,357 sq. km) — the home of ESPN in the U.S. The only states that are smaller than Qatar are Delaware (6,646 sq. km) and Rhode Island (4,001 sq. km.)

11.18 ET / 15.18 GMT: We will know the group stage fixtures and dates for all 32 teams as soon as the draw is made. However, we will have to wait to discover the venues and kickoff times. FIFA is going to optimise the order of matches for supporter demand and to fit in with local TV audiences for the participating teams.

– World Cup finals bracket and fixtures schedule

11.12 ET / 15.12 GMT: ESPN senior writer James Olley is already in the auditorium, and can show us how the Convention Center is filling up.

11.10 ET / 15.10 GMT: The guests are already arriving at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center ahead of the draw.

The event is being hosted by U.S. soccer legend and two-time Women’s World Cup winner Carli Lloyd, former England player Jermaine Jenas and British-Jamaican sports presenter Samantha Johnson.

Here’s Carli chatting to U.S. men’s coach Gregg Berhalter on the red carpet.

11.00 ET / 15.00 GMT: Welcome to the 2022 World Cup finals draw…. LIVE! Over the next couple of hours we’ll give you a flavour of the draw and the highlights of the ceremony itself, which begins at 4 p.m. GMT, midday ET.

Pot 1 contains the hosts, Qatar, along with strongest seven nations according to the new FIFA World Ranking, which were published on Thursday ahead of the draw.

The other pots are filled in order of the FIFA World Ranking, apart from Pot 4, which contains the five lowest-ranked nations along with the winners of the three remaining playoffs (two intercontinental and the outstanding UEFA path involving Ukraine that are due to be played in June).



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