World Cup 2022 draw: England draw old rivals, Wales face Belgium in qualifying

Updated 07/12/2020 at 20:26 GMT

England will play plenty of old rivals and familiar faces in Group I, while Wales have a trickier task at hand in Group E. Scotland will face Israel once again in Group F, while Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland also have some challenging matches ahead.

World Cup qualifiers draw

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England have a group of old rivals as they look to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

Gareth Southgate's side were drawn in Group I, along with Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino.

"Poland are obviously a very good side," Southgate told Sky Sports after the draw. "Hungary just got promoted into the Nations League top division so those two in particular will be games we know will be tough. The rest...are complicated games to navigate."

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England have a storied history against Hungary, with their last loss coming back in 1962; and have a similar lengthy track record against Poland, with their last defeat a famous one - a 2-0 defeat in qualification for the 1974 World Cup.

England do, however, have a perfect record against San Marino, with six wins out of six - but some will remember the away match in qualification for the 1994 World Cup, when the hosts struck after eight seconds to humiliate Graham Taylor's surprised side.

"Sadly, I remember some of them!" joked Southgate. "All of those nights with England are the opportunities for countries to make history.

"There's always lots of incentives for our opposition."

Wales got a tough draw in Group E, and will face Belgium, Czech Republic, Belarus and Estonia.

Scotland will have to face Israel again in Group F, as well as Denmark, Austria, Faroe Islands and Moldova.

In Group A, the Republic of Ireland will play Portugal, Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.

"It's an exciting group," said Stephen Kenny, the Republic of Ireland manager, to Sky Sports. "We've not got the congested three games in the window in March...it's an interesting group for us.

"It's a new campaign. I think we'll have a lot of players back for March...our squad will be a lot stronger in March and we look forward to the games - they're great games."

In Group C, Northern Ireland will take on Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Lithuania.

"We're really pleased with a five-team group," said Ian Baraclough, the Northern Ireland manager. "We knew we'd come up against two tough teams in Pot 1 and Pot 2.

"It's going to be certainly competitive."