World Cup draw: Line-up for Qatar football tournament to be revealed

Anticipation for the Middle East's first World Cup will shoot up a notch today when the draw for the tournament takes place in Qatar.

From the firm favourites to the plucky longshots, countries will get an idea of who they have to beat to progress to the latter stages.

The day of the draw began with a protest outside FIFA headquarters in Zurich. German artist Volker-Johannes Trieb used balls filled with sand to protest against the suffering of migrant workers in Qatar who have worked on the infrastructure related to the World Cup.

Here's all you need to know.

It begins at the Doha Exhibition & Convention Center at 18:00 CEST on 1 April and lasts for one hour.

Due to sweltering summer temperatures in Qatar, the tournament has been moved to later in the year. It will take place in the middle of Europe's domestic football season, from 21 November to 18 December 2022.

There will be 32 teams involved in the tournament, but 37 in the draw, because there are still qualifying matches undecided, in particular involving Ukraine.

Teams will be split into eight groups of four, with 16 advancing to the latter stages of the contest.

Ukraine was originally scheduled to play Scotland in a European playoff, but the match was postponed until June because of Russia's invasion.

The winner plays Wales for Europe's final spot.

Costa Rica finished fourth in the North and Central America and the Caribbean qualifying group and goes into an intercontinental playoff against New Zealand.

Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay have qualified in South America. Peru defeated Paraguay 2-0 on Tuesday night for fifth place and will compete for a berth against the winner of Asia's fifth-place playoff between Australia and the United Arab Emirates on 7 June.

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