On Friday December 1, the World Cup draw will take place in the Great Hall of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.
The 32 teams who have secured their place will be placed in Pots numbered from one to four, with eight nations in each, determined by their place in the world rankings.
There will be eight groups of four teams each, with the groups being lettered from A-H.
As host nation, Russia will be placed directly into Group A and no teams from the same confederation can be drawn into the same group. That is except for UEFA, who can have two teams per group.
In the second round, the winners of Group A will face Group B's runners-up, the winners of Group C will take on the second placed team in Group D, and so on through to Group H.
Passage to the next round will be secure by points obtained in the group stage and in case of teams being level on points, it will be decided by goal difference in all games and then goals scored throughout that phase of the competition.