The 53 European countries will be drawn into nine qualification groups - all made up of six teams apart from one of five teams.

World Cup: Preliminary draw on Saturday

The countries will be split into six seeded pots with one team from each pot drawn into each group.

The draw for the European qualifying competition will take place last, after the other continents.

The draw is due to start at 7pm BST with the European draw to take place at 8.23pm BST. The pot containing the lowest seeds, including Wales, will be drawn first.

The pots containing the top seeds, including England, will be drawn last, around 8.40pm BST.

The Republic of Ireland will be in the pot of third seeds, Scotland and Northern Ireland in the pot of fourth seeds.

The nine group winners will qualify automatically. The eight best group runners-up will contest play-offs for the four remaining places.

Africa have five places for the finals. After a preliminary round, the 40 surviving teams contest 10 groups of four teams each.

Asia have 4.5 places in the finals. An initial competition will see 10 of the 43 countries in two groups with the winners and runners-up qualifying, and the third-placed teams playing off to go to the intercontinental play-off.

CONCACAF have 3.5 places for the finals for the 35 countries from north and central America and the Caribbean. Three qualifying rounds will leave six teams who play each other on a league basis. The top three qualify and the fourth-placed team go into the intercontinental play-off.

OCEANIA have 0.5 places and the 11 countries play preliminary games to produce a final group of four. The winner qualifies for the intercontinental play-off.

South America have 4.5 places for the finals with hosts Brazil qualifying automatically. The nine countries play in one league with the top four qualifying and the fifth going to the intercontinental play-off.