How to watch Scotland draw Israel in the Fifa World Cup 2022 draw
Less than a month after the national team ended their hoodoo of not qualifying for a tournament by reaching Euro 2020 in dramatic circumstances in Serbia, the road to Qatar begins.
Here is everything you need to know about the draw:
When is it?
The draw takes place at 5pm GMT. With the coronavirus pandemic it is being held virtually from Zurich.
How to watch it?
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Hide AdCan Scotland draw Israel?
It is a pertinent question after what has felt like 96 meetings between the sides in the last couple of years. Unfortunately the answer is yes, Scotland can be paired with Israel with the countries in different pots.
So, what are the pots?
Pot 1: Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands
Pot 2: Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania
Pot 3: Russia, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland
Pot 4: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, Belarus, Georgia, Luxembourg
Pot 5: Armenia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra
Pot 6: Malta, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, San Marino
How do the groups work?
There will be five groups of five and five groups of six. The ten group winners will qualify.
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Hide AdA further three places are available from the European qualifiers and will be decided by a series of play-offs involving the ten runners-up in the group plus the two best Nations League group winners.
The 12 teams will be split into three paths with a semi-final and final, just like the Nations League play-offs Scotland qualified for Euro 2020 through.
What are the hardest and easiest paths… on paper at least?
Using the Fifa rankings as a guide, as the Scottish FA have done, a group containing the Netherlands, Romania, Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino would be the least difficult. As for the most difficult, it would see a group consisting of Belgium, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, Malta.
When does qualifying begin?
The first set of fixtures begin on March 24, 2021 and run until November 16, 2021.
The play-offs take place in March 2022.