World Cup draw: Republic and Northern Ireland to learn potential opponents
Ellen O'Donoghue
- The World Cup draw will start at 5pm in Washington, DC.
- The Republic of Ireland is to face the Czech Republic in the play-offs next March, and will be in pot 4.
- Follow live updates here, as the draw is expected to go on for some time.
5.05pm
Andrea Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma has started the ceremony. Donald Trump is in the audience, sitting beside Fifa president Gianni Infantino. We will likely hear from both of them very soon.
Hosts Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart are now on stage. This is pure showbiz.
The Republic of Ireland will learn its possible group at next summer's World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA after 5pm.
The draw takes place at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC, at 5pm for the newly expanded 48-team tournament.
Heimir Hallgrímsson will be there, leading an FAI delegation.
It is expected to go on for a while, and Rio Ferdinand will be joined by Sam Johnson and a host of sporting greats, including Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O’Neal, as the draw conductor.
Ireland is to face the Czech Republic in the play-offs next March, so the draw is somewhat hypothetical for Ireland.
We require winning two play-off games, but we will at least know then who they will be playing and whether qualifying will give Ireland a chance of going far in the tournament or not.
They will be in pot 4, where there is a smattering of quality in all pots, but pot 1 has the big hitters, and the not-quite-so-strong hosts of the USA, Mexico, and Canada, so they would be better ones to get.
Pot 1 will include the host nations – the USA, Canada, and Mexico, alongside Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
Pot 2, based on Fifa rankings, will be Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia.
Pot 3 includes Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
Pot 4 includes Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand and the six outstanding qualifiers.
The Republic of Ireland will be known as Uefa Playoff Path D. Northern Ireland as Path A.