The European qualifying groups have been drawn for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Though the European Championships are pencilled in for next summer, with them having been moved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Cup will soon be upon us.
England’s 2018 run in Russia feels like a few sleeps ago, but it’s been over two years, and soon Gareth Southgate’s men will have to do it all over again – including qualifying for it.
The draw for the European qualifying groups has been made today, with each European team finding out who they will have to get the better of if they want to play on the biggest stage of them all.
As revealed on via the official England social media channels, the Three Lions have been drawn alongside Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino in group I.
Poland are near enough as tough of a draw as England could have hoped for as the second seeded team, but you have to think that all of those games are, at least on paper, winnable.
While Southgate will not be keen to take his eye off the ball ahead of next summer’s European Championships, he now knows what tests are peeking over the horizon in the World Cup qualifiers.
Is football coming home?