World Cup draw live as play off opponents decided for Scotland and Wales

It seems that all seeded teams will be drawn first, followed by their opponents – as opposed to learning each semi-final, one by one.

Given the way the semi-final winners are paired together for the finals, if Wales and Scotland are drawn in the same ‘pair’ of semi-finals and both win, they will face each other in a final.

The same applies to Italy and Portugal, of course, in what would represent the biggest final clash – guaranteeing a major nation fails to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

With 12 teams involved in the European play-offs, there will of course be six semi-finals, followed by three finals.

The winners of semi-final 1 will play the winners of semi-final 2.

The winners of SF 3 play the winners of SF 4.

The winners of SF 5 play the winners of SF 6.

Every tie will be a single leg.

Seeded teams: Scotland, Wales, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Sweden.

Unseeded teams: Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, North Macedonia, Austria, Czech Republic.

Seeded teams are guaranteed a home semi-final when the play-offs take place next March.

And we’re under way! We’ll have all the updates as Wales, Scotland, Portugal, Italy and more learn their opponents for the 2022 World Cup play-offs...

T-minus five minutes until the draw begins...

We’re a little less than half an hour away from the start of the draw – or the start of *proceedings*, at least...

They can often take a while. In the meantime, here’s our Chief Football Writer, Miguel Delaney, on the politics around next winter’s Qatar World Cup.

“One of the most jarring things is actually how casually it’s being said. After England and a series of other countries confirmed their place at the 2022 World Cup, the talk was naturally of ‘going to Qatar’ as if that isn’t the utterly absurd prospect it seemed right up to December 2010.

“That normalisation is of course key to sportswashing. A core idea is that these countries and their vehicles become such a part of everyday conversation that everyone forgets to keep asking questions.”

Full article here:

The winners of semi-final 1 will play the winners of semi-final 2.

The winners of SF 3 play the winners of SF 4.

The winners of SF 5 play the winners of SF 6.

That means if Wales and Scotland are drawn in the same ‘pair’ of semi-finals and both win, they will face each other in the final.

The same applies to Italy and Portugal, of course, in what would represent the biggest final clash – guaranteeing a major nation fails to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

So, as seeded teams, Wales and Scotland could face any of the following sides in the play-off semi-finals:

Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Austria, or Czech Republic.

North Macedonia arguably represent the kindest draw, while Austria are possibly the toughest opponents.

Wales and Scotland will both be at home for their semi-finals next March.

It is hard to imagine a World Cup without Portugal and Italy both involved.

The Italians failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the first time they’d missed a world championship since 1958.

Portugal, meanwhile, were not involved in many of the early World Cups but have played at every one since 2002.

As such, the last World Cup to feature neither Portugal nor Italy was 1958.

Both are at risk of missing out in 2022 as they head into next spring’s play-offs.