On Wednesday, the final World Cup Qualifiers –with the exception of the European qualifying match between Wales and Ukraine which was postponed until June amid the conflict in Ukraine — will take place. After years of qualifiers, friendlies, and continental tournaments, all that stands between football fans and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be intercontinental playoffs, about eight months, and, of course, the group stage draw.

With that out of the way, here's everything you need to know about the 2022 World Cup draw for the group stages.

World Cup draw 2022 date, time, and format

The draw will take place on Friday, April 1st at 12:00 p.m. EST live from Doha, Qatar. The draw will place all 32 qualifying nations into four pots based on their respective FIFA World Ranking. This means that while nations like Canada may finish atop CONCACAF qualifying, they will still be placed into either pot three or pot four.

Each nation will be drawn from the pot, and then a group ball will be chosen as well to decide which group from A to H they will be placed in for the 2022 World Cup. One country's placement is already known, as Qatar is automatically placed in Group A, chosen out of the first bot by virtue of being the host nation. For everyone else, they will be drawn at random via the pots, however, countries will not be chosen in a group with other members of their continental confederation, with the exception of UEFA nations, who have 13 representatives at this year's tournament.

Teams that have qualified for the World Cup 

As mentioned, qualified nations will be placed into four pots for selection, and while all is not known yet, here's where the pots stand leading into Wednesday's slate. Thus far, here are the teams that have qualified for the World Cup in 2022.

Pot 1: Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal

Pot 2: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay, Croatia [Potentially also two of USA, Mexico, or Senegal]

Pot 3: Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea [Potentially also two of Senegal, Canada, Tunisia, or Cameroon]

Pot 4: Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Winner of CONCACAF/Oceania Playoff, Winner of CONMEBOL/AFC Playoff, Winner of final UEFA Playoff [Potentially also two of Canada, Tunisia, or Cameroon]

It's worth noting that in all likelihood, barring any significantly surprising results, the USA and Mexico will be the final teams in Pot 2, and Senegal and Canada will occupy Pot 3, leaving Tunisia and Cameroon to take hold in Pot 4.

When is the 2022 World Cup?

The 2022 World Cup schedule was finalized in July of 2020, taking place during the winter as opposed to the tournament's usual home in the summer months, in order to avoid as much of the Qatari heat as possible. The first match will take place on November 21st at approximately 5:00 a.m. EST, pitting hosts Qatar against one of their Group A counterparts. The first two group stage matchdays will have kickoff times of 5:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m, and 2:00 p.m. EST. Kickoff time for the final two matchdays of the group stages will be at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. EST, respectively.

Organizers will be planning kickoff times and date assignments after the draw, optimizing the schedule in order for games to take place at ideal viewing times for audiences from both teams' home countries. This means that regardless of what nation the USA squares off against in the 2022 World Cup, the game will be played at a reasonable time for fans back home to catch it on TV.

The 2022 World Cup Final is set to take place on December 18, while the matchup for third place will occur one day earlier on December 17.