New England manager Thomas Tuchel is in Zurich for the 2026 World Cup qualifying draw at FIFA's headquarters.
Tuchel doesn't officially take charge of the Three Lions until January 1 but he's heading up a delegation from the Football Association. Winning the 2026 World Cup is Tuchel's sole goal after signing an 18-month contract, but he'll first have to ensure that England qualify for the tournament which will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
England are among the top seeds for the draw, meaning that they'll avoid the likes of Euro 2024 winners Spain and 2022 World Cup finalists France. However, they could come up against Greece, who recently beat them at home, or their Home Nations rivals.
Scroll down as Mirror Football brings you the live updates from the draw…
Group A: Germany OR Italy
Group B: Switzerland
Group C: Portugal OR Denmark
Group D: France OR Croatia
Group E: Spain OR Netherlands
Group F: Portugal OR Denmark
Group G: Spain OR Netherlands
Group H: Austria
Group I: Germany OR Italy
Group J: Belgium
Group K: England
Group L: Portugal OR Denmark
Portugal OR Denmark (the winner of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
France OR Croatia (the loser of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
Spain OR Netherlands (the winner of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
France OR Croatia (the winner of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
The Three Lions are in group K.
Belgium
Germany OR Italy (the loser of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
Austria
Spain OR Netherlands (the loser of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
Portugal OR Denmark (the loser of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
Switzerland.
Germany OR Italy (the winner of the teams' Nations League quarter-final clash)
Here are the 12 nations who are about to be drawn out.
10 of them are in Nations League action, though, so can only be drawn into groups of four.
So, the 12 group winners will qualify.
The 12 runners-up plus the four-best ranked Nations League group winners who didn't finish first or second in qualifying will go into the play-offs.
Groups are of five (starting in March) or four (September).
We're ready to go with the teams in pot 1.
… Says chief yournament officer Manolo Zubiria.
You can say that again.
Here are the 'FIFA legends' who'll pull out the balls for this morning's draw.
Robert Pires, Ariane Hingst, Fernando Llorente, Rachel Yankey and Gianluca Zambrotta.
Now a video message from Aleksander Ceferin, who's not here today.
"May the best ones earn their place on the grand stage," he concludes.
Of course Gianni would say that.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is here, suited up with his snazzy white trainers.
He's been a busy man this week, having hosted a virtual meeting on Wednesday which saw Saudi Arabia controversially awarded the 2034 World Cup after they won the 'bidding process'.
The 2030 edition was also awarded to Spain, Portugal and Morocco – but it'll start in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Simple, right?
We're now being shown a film about the… five senses.
That's a new one.
Our host, Semra Hunter, is here on stage.
Here's another shot of Thomas Tuchel as the audience are told to make their way to their seats and switch off their mobile phones.
In the background, you can see Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann.
The anticipation is building in Zurich!
Who will England get?
The 2026 World Cup will be staged across 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States:
United States (11): Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle
Mexico (3): Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
Canada (2): Toronto, Vancouver
The final will be held in New York on July 19, 2026.
The FIFA HQ is quite something… unusual venue for a draw.
Normally it’s in a host city or a glamorous draw hall but there’s been plenty going on with Saudi and everything so it’s in their own backyard, basically…
There’s football pitches here where Gianni Infantino and staff regularly play of a lunchtime…
And I just love this statue…
Rather than a red carpet, there’s a green carpet for when coaches arrive but all the talking will come later.
Some nations have sent coaches, others haven’t as it’s been a rather hastily arranged draw which all feels a bit last-minute…
But England’s incoming boss Thomas Tuchel is here. There is a coaches’ workshop going on and it’s led by Arsene Wenger.
Among the big names attending are: Thomas Tuchel, Didier Deschamps, Julian Nagelsmann, Luciano Spalletti, Ronald Koeman, Michael O’Neill, Roberto Martinez, Steve Clarke, Sergiy Rebrov (and Andriy Shevchenko from Ukraine) and Craig Bellamy.
Each team who wins their group will automatically qualify for the World Cup finals.
The 12 runners-up, plus the four best-ranked group winners in the Nations League who did not finish first or second during qualifying, will then compete for the final four European spots via the play-offs.
Four different paths will contain four teams, who'll all play a one-legged semi-final before the two winners face each other in a final.
The fixtures will take place between March 26 and 31, 2026.
Five-team groups will begin their campaigns in March, while groups of four must wait until September to start because of the Nations League finals taking place in June.
Countries in groups of five will play eight fixtures over five windows.
Those in fours will play six fixtures over three windows.

Based on FIFA's current world rankings, this would be England's most favourable group.

And for the toughest…
A five-team group could also affect England's chances of playing two friendly matches in the USA in June, dates which the FA are reportedly eyeing up.
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