The first phase of the 2018 Russia World Cup will have a highlight match between Portugal and Spain, while the rest of the top contenders for the title did not end up in excessively difficult groups, but face the danger of the Round of 16 matchups if they make any mistakes, according to the draw held this Friday at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Groups of the Russia 2018 World Cup
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The draw ceremony for the group stage of the 2018 Russia World Cup will take place this Friday. Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, and Peru will represent South America.
2018 Russia World Cup Draw LIVE ONLINE: Schedule around the world
Peru - 10:00 a.m.
Colombia - 10:00 a.m.
Ecuador - 10:00 a.m.
Mexico - 9:00 a.m.
Argentina - 12:00 p.m.
Chile - 12:00 p.m.
Brazil - 12:00 p.m.
Uruguay - 12:00 p.m.
Spain - 4:00 p.m.
These are the main conditions of the 2018 Russia World Cup draw:
- Russia, as the host country, will automatically be drawn as position A1 and will play the opening match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on June 14 against the team from pot 2.
- The other seven seeded teams will be drawn into the other groups from B to H, but always as position 1 in their groups.
- The groups will be drawn from A to H, and the positions in the group will be drawn from pots 2 to 4.
- The draw will start with pot 1 and finish with pot 4. All balls from a pot will be drawn before moving on to the next one. According to the standard procedure, a ball will be drawn from the pot of teams first, and then another one from the pot of groups to determine the positions in which the teams will play.
- Geographical criteria will also be respected, which means that two teams from the same confederation cannot be placed in the same group, except for UEFA (always with a maximum of two European representatives per group).
- Distribution of the pots (according to the FIFA rankings of October and in decreasing order, except for Russia):
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.