The live coverage of the draw has started.

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For political reasons, Ukraine and Belarus cannot be in the same group, and neither can Gibraltar and Spain. Kosovo must be kept apart from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Weather is a factor too. Because of the potential cold conditions, a maximum of two of Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway can be drawn together. Iceland and the Faroes cannot be drawn together as they are considered the two countries most at risk of weather disruptions.

There are also geographical limits on who Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iceland can face to avoid too many trips to the opposite side of Europe.

The four teams who win the Nations League quarter-finals in March must each go into one of the four-team World Cup qualifying groups (Groups A-F).

That is because the Nations League finals are played in June, leaving less room in the calendar for World Cup qualifiers.

Because this draw takes place before those games, the quarter-finalists will be drawn as placeholders. For example, the winner of France v Croatia will go in one group, with the loser going in another.

A maximum of one losing Nations League quarter-finalist or one Nations League promotion-relegation play-off team can go in one group.

Scotland and the Republic of Ireland are among the 16 teams in those play-offs - so are more than likely to end in a four-team group.

England are likely to be in a five-team group.

The bottom six seeded teams will automatically go into Groups G-L.

All of the groups will contain one team each from pots one to four. Six of the groups will also have a team from pot five. There are some restrictions on which teams can be drawn in which groups, and who they can face - more on that to come.

The teams will be drawn in order of pots - so pot one teams first, then pot two and so on.

Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, ENGLAND, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria

Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, WALES, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway

Pot 3: SCOTLAND, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Kosovo, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania

Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino

The format for European qualifying has changed, with more groups – and smaller ones than before.

There will be 12 World Cup qualifying groups. Six will have four teams and six will have five teams.

Teams will play each other home and away as usual.

The top team from each group qualifies automatically for the World Cup, with the runners-up going into the play-offs with four Nations League teams.

Four of the 16 play-off teams will qualify for the tournament.

Naturally, as these things usually are, the draw is going to be fairly complicated (and yes, you've guessed it, probably long winded).

But, stick with us, we'll be giving you all the key information before, during and after the draw.

I know this week has been dominated by talk of World Cup tournaments/matches in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, but ignore all those for now.

Today is all about the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026.

The World Cup is truly on a world tour...

Morning!

That's right... Friday is the day teams are able to start plotting their way to becoming World Cup champions in 2026.

Don't forget, that will be the biggest World Cup so far, with a record 48 teams taking part.

We can't get that far without qualifying though... it's time for the draw.

The road to the Fifa World Cup 2026 in the United States starts right here...

Image source, Getty Images

Oh... and Mexico...

Image source, Getty Images

And, what's that? It is in Canada too!?!

Image source, Getty Images