Friday's football World Cup draw in Doha was a moment 12 years in the making ever since Qatar was awarded the right to host FIFA's showpiece tournament.

As hosts, Qatar will be making their World Cup debut as one of the top seeds despite being one of the lowest-ranked teams ever to play in the finals. The team, who are 51st in the FIFA rankings was assigned a spot in Group A alongside the Netherlands, Ecuador, and African champions Senegal.

Draw favors Brazil and France
However, most of the interest revolved around the traditional heavyweights of world football. Five-time World Cup winners Brazil got a relatively easy draw, joining Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon in Group G.

While defending champion France was paired with Tunisia, Denmark and the winner of the Asia - South America playoff game.

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French coach Didier Deschamps who attended the draw, told journalists his team would need to be at its best if it was to qualify for the knockout stages. "A lot of respect as well - we are talking about Denmark, maybe a lot of people don't think it is one of the best nations, but they were semi-finalists in the last Euros, and in the FIFA rankings they are ahead of Germany and the Netherlands, without naming others. And for Tunisia, I have a lot of respect as well."

Possible Battle of Britain in Group B
Euro 2020 runners up England could end up playing British rivals Wales or Scotland in group B. Alternatively, it could face Ukraine. The Ukrainians are due to play Scotland in a playoff in June, the match having been postponed following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The winner of that game will play Wales for the right to go to Qatar. England manager Gareth Southgate, who led his side to the semi-finals at Russia 2018, said there was still a lot of uncertainty regarding Ukraine and whether it could fulfill its fixtures.

"We all know where our thoughts are with Ukraine? Yeah we will have to see if they are even able to play or not, and of course, it is one of the British teams we have been through that in a tournament recently, so they become unique games really, form is totally out of the window." he told reporters in Doha.

Blockbuster Clash
But every World Cup draw throws up at least one blockbuster clash in the early stages. This year, it's the game between four-time winner Germany and old rival Spain, who won the competition back in 2010.

On the face of it getting Germany in the group stages represents a pretty tough draw for Spain, but coach Luis Enrique knows if his team can win that match the chances of going deep in the competition are pretty high.

Truth be told this is one of the most open World Cups in years with five or six teams in with a good chance of winning. The countdown to that November 21 kick-off has well and truly begun.