The 2018 World Cup draw is set — here is where all 32 teams are grouped

pulse

December 1, 2017 3:49 PM

Here is where all 32 countries will be grouped for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

No obvious "Group of Death" emerged when the 2018 FIFA World Cup draw was announced Friday morning.

In the draw, the 32 countries were divided into four "pots." The top seeds were all placed in Pot 1 and were the first to be assigned to groups. Those were followed by the teams in Pot 2 and so on, with the lowest-seeded teams, in Pot 4, grouped last. A handful of adjustments happened along the way to keep teams of the same region from being in the same group.

Group F and Group D appear to be the toughest divisions. Group F has Germany, the No. 1 team in the world; Mexico; Sweden, which may have been the top team from Pot 3; and South Korea. Group D also deserves some Group of Death mention, with Argentina, Croatia, Iceland, and Nigeria.

Group A, on the other hand, is being described as the "Group of Life" because of the lack of a dominant team. Russia, which made it into Pot 1 because it is the host country, is not grouped with any teams in the top 20, only one team in the top 30 (Uruguay), and the lowest-ranked team in the rest of the field (Saudi Arabia).

Here are the four pots that determined the draw, based on the FIFA world rankings in October:

Pot 1: Russia, 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

Here are the groups:

GROUP A — Russia is the top seed

A1 — RUSSIA

A2 — SAUDI ARABIA

A3 — EGYPT

A4 — URUGUAY

GROUP B — Portugal is the top seed