The draw ceremony for the 2018 World Cup began at 8.30 pm (IST) at the Kremlin in Moscow. The actual drawing of the balls started around 30 minutes later and lasted for around half an hour.
The draw ceremony was led by former England striker and 1986 World Cup Golden Boot winner Gary Lineker and Russian sports journalist Maria Komandnaya and was a far simpler format than in previous tournaments.
The 32 teams were equally divided into four pots based on FIFA world rankings with the exception of Russia, who as hosts were placed in the top seeds' pot.
Each pot was emptied one by one into eight groups -- Group A to Group H -- which contained four teams each.
Two teams from the same confederation could not be in the same group, other than Europe, which has 14 teams, and could not have more than two teams in the same group.
The first match of the tournament will take place in Moscow on June 14, featuring Russia, with the final also in Moscow on July 15.
Pot 1: Russia (hosts), Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, FrancePot 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, CroatiaPot 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, IranPot 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia