Everything you need to know about the 2018 World Cup draw

That summer holiday will have to wait. Here, theScore tells you what you need to know ahead of Friday's final draw for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The draw

• Where: In the concert hall at State Kremlin Palace, Moscow
• When: Friday, December 1 (10 a.m. ET)
• Watch: Live coverage on FIFA.com, Fox Sports 1 (U.S.), TSN 4 (Canada), BBC Two (U.K.)

Draw procedure

Host Russia automatically assumes the first spot in Group A, and will avoid fellow top seeds Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, and France in the opening stage of the competition.

The groups will comprise of one country from each of the four pots determined using October's FIFA World Ranking. This is how the rest shape up:

Pot 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Croatia

Pot 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran

Pot 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

Overall, 32 teams will compete in the showpiece across groups A to H. The World Cup begins on June 14, 2018 and finishes on July 15, 2018.

Personnel

Gary Lineker, a Golden Boot winner with England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, will present the event with Russian sports journalist Maria Komandnaya.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

The legends chosen to assist with the draw are:

• Laurent Blanc (1998 World Cup winner with France)
• Gordon Banks (1966 World Cup winner with England)
• Cafu (Winner of 1994 and 2002 World Cups with Brazil)
• Fabio Cannavaro (2006 World Cup winner with Italy)
• Diego Forlan (Golden Ball winner at 2010 World Cup with Uruguay)
• Diego Maradona (1986 World Cup winner with Argentina)
• Carles Puyol (2010 World Cup winner with Spain)
• Nikita Simonyan (1958 World Cup quarter-finalist with the Soviet Union)

It is unknown whether professional irritant rapping superstar Pitbull will show up at the event. He often does.