World football governing body, FIFA, on Thursday, November 16, 2017, announced the pots for the 2018 World Cup draw on its website.
In the publication, Nigeria is placed in Pot 4, which means it will not play any of the countries in that pot.
Pot 1:
has Russia, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, and France.
Pot 2:
has Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia. Mexico, Uruguay, and Croatia.
Pot 3:
has Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, and Iran.
Pot 4:
Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia.
It was confirmed in September, by the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions, that all teams will be allocated to (eight-team) pots 1 to 4 based on sporting principles.
FIFA also said it used the October 2017 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking to allocate all qualified teams to the four pots after hosts Russia took the top seeding spot.
“It is worth remembering that the principle of drawing the teams into the groups will remain unchanged. This means that no teams from the same confederation, with the exception of UEFA, which could have up to two teams in the same group, will be drawn into the same group.”
“The Final Draw will take place on Friday 1 December at Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace, FIFA added.
