UEFA mini tournament has three World Cup spots on offer

The draw to determine the eight groups at the Qatar World Cup will be made on Friday 1 April.

Over the next week, teams across the globe will be looking to fill the slots still available for the tournament which gets underway on 21 November and concludes on 18 December. Yes, the finale on the Sunday before Christmas.

Qatar 2022 will be the last World Cup to feature 32 teams, with the number increasing to 48 from the 2026 edition in the USA/Canada/Mexico.

A total of 12 countries are vying for the three remaining UEFA spots for Qatar. However, the identity of the trio will not be known after this international window. The Scotland-Ukraine play-off was postponed shortly after the Russian invasion. It is hoped the fixture can take place in June, a rescheduling that would impact the Nations League, with the Republic of Ireland set to face the Ukrainians twice in ten days.

Watch live coverage of the FIFA 2022 World Cup draw on RTÉ 2 and the RTÉ Player from 5pm on Friday 1 April.

Andriy Pavelko, president of the Ukrainian FA, is hopeful the team will get the opportunity to fulfull the fixture with Scotland, but expressed a note of caution when speaking to the Daily Record recently.

"Everyone understood it was impossible to play in Scotland in March and the game was postponed to June, he said.

"No one can say how the situation will develop and of course, it is possible the match will not go ahead then either. Our fans want us in the best possible condition for June, but it's completely impossible to speak about that at the moment.

"Our thoughts at the moment are all about human lives, not football. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee the match in June will go ahead either. We are getting closer to victory every day.

"All I can say is