Zurich, Dec 8 (IANS): Reigning world champions France will face Ukraine and Bosnia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup European qualifiers.
The UEFA preliminary draw took place at a virtual event on Monday where all 55 teams learned their groups on the road to Qatar 2022.
The 2018 World Cup winners will play Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland and Kazakhstan in Group D, while fellow 2018 finalists Croatia will face Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta in Group H.
England's opponents in Group I are Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino.
All teams within a group will play each other twice in a home-and-away format between March 2020 and November 2021. The ten group winners will qualify directly for Qatar 2022, with the ten runners-up advancing to the play-offs.
The 10 group runners-up will enter a play-off together with the two best group winners from the 2020-2021 UEFA Nations League that have neither qualified as World Cup qualifying group winners, nor entered the play-offs as runners-up.
The last three tickets for European teams will be determined in March 2022 with the 12 teams drawn into three play-off paths.
The Qatar World Cup is scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022.