Malta has been drawn to pay against England, Slovakia, Scotland, Slovenia and Lithuania in group F of the qualiftying round of the World Cup Russia 2018.
The draws were held in St Petersburg this evening.
The other European groups are as follows:
Group A
Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus, Luxembourg
Group B
Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Andorra
Group C
Germany, Czech Republic, N. Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan, San Marino
Group D
Wales, Austria, Serbia, Rep. of Ireland, Georgia, Moldova
Group E
Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia, Kazakhstan
Group G
Spain, Italy, Albania, Israel, Macedonia, Liechtenstein
Group H
Belgium, Bosnia, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus
Group I
Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland
Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be no easy task for some of Europe's traditional powers.
Italy, the 2006 world champion, paid the price for recent poor results by being drawn with 2010 winner Spain in the ceremony on Saturday at Konstantin Palace. Group G also features Bulgaria, Belarus, and Luxembourg.
The heavyweight group is undoubtedly A. Netherlands, France, and Sweden will compete for the one automatic place at the finals alongside Bulgaria, Belarus, and Luxembourg.
Eight of the best second-place teams from the continent's nine groups will get a second shot at reaching Russia through the playoffs.
Many teams would relish the start Germany has to its title defense from September 2016. The champion has a seemingly relatively straightforward Group C where the Czech Republic is the strongest rival, and other games with Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan, and San Marino.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal shouldn't be too concerned about Group B, which also features Switzerland, Hungary, the Faeroe Islands, Latvia, and Andorra.
Other confederations
The United States will open World Cup qualifying in November in a four-nation group that includes Trinidad and Tobago.
The other opponents in Group C will be either Guatemala or Antigua and Barbuda, and Aruba or St. Vincent and the Grenadine.
Mexico is in Group A with Honduras, Canada or Belize, and El Salvador or Curacao.
Costa Rica is in Group B with Panama, Jamaica or Nicaragua, and Haiti or Grenada.
The top two nations in each group advance to the six-team final round, known as the Hexagonal. The top three qualify, and the fourth meets an Asian opponent in a playoff for another berth.
Among the interesting pairings in Africa's second round were Angola vs. South Africa, the Chad-Sierra Leone winner vs. Egypt, the Comoros-Lesotho winner vs. Ghana, the Djibouti-Swaziland winner vs. Nigeria, the Liberia-Guinea-Bissau winner vs. Ivory Coast, the Somalia-Niger winner vs. Cameroon, and the Tanzania-Malawi winner vs. Algeria.
In Oceania, the second round has two groups of four teams — and the top three in each group advance.
Group A includes New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, and either American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa or Tonga.
Heavy favorite New Zealand is in Group B with Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
The advancing teams are split into two groups for the third round, and the group winners meet in a home-and-away series for the right to meet the fifth-place team from South America in a home-and-away playoff for a berth.
FIFA and Sepp Blatter put their corruption crisis aside and got back to World Cup business at the 2018 tournament qualifying draw hosted by Vladimir Putin in a Russian state residence on Saturday.
The two presidents joined on stage for speeches to open a draw ceremony that is the FIFA leadership's first major public event since American and Swiss criminal investigations of corruption in world football were unsealed two months ago.
"Thank you President Putin, you make us happy and comfortable," said Blatter, making his first trip outside his native Switzerland since mid-May. He has avoidedFIFA business in countries which have extradition treaties with the United States.
Putin and Blatter got a standing ovation from Russian and football officials and guests when they walked on stage together in a temporary venue built in the splendid grounds of Konstantin Palace.
"We are here to launch a football marathon," Putin said through a translator, of a 32-team tournament that will kick off in almost three years' time after around 850 qualifying matches.
The preliminary rounds will decide 31 qualifying slots for teams to join host Russia at the month-long tournament in 11 cities.
"It is a good chance to visit a multi-faceted and open Russia that can surprise and inspire," Putin said, promising "a special atmosphere of unity and overwhelming joy."
Earlier, Putin and Blatter met for a brief photo call inside the former Romanov palace.
"We say yes to Russia, we are providing our support," Blatter said of the host nation, whose winning bid campaign is being examined by Swiss prosecutors in a wider case involving World Cup bids and FIFA spending.
FIFA gathered football officials from around the world to the coastal parkland setting on the south-west fringe of Putin's home city. The palace previously hosted world political leaders for meetings of the G8 and G20 nations.
A total of 141 of FIFA's 209 member federations were involved in the draw, including top-ranked team Argentina and joint No. 207-ranked Djibouti and Cook Islands.
The two-hour draw show let FIFA show renewed confidence after being rocked by the massive investigations into alleged racketeering, bribery, and corruption implicating football and marketing officials.
Blatter was re-elected FIFA presiden with support from Putin, who hinted the United States was meddling in football's affairs to help strip Russia of the 2018 World Cup.
Still, Blatter stunningly announced within a week he would leave office after a new election to replace him. It is on Feb. 26.
Blatter could be interviewed for the Swiss case - investigating suspected money laundering linked to the 2018 and 2022 bid contests - and is a stated target of American investigators. He denies all wrongdoing.
Russia bid leaders have also denied wrongdoing though provided little evidence toFIFA's ethics committee in a previous probe. That case concluded that wrongdoing by several of nine bid candidates did not influence the victories of Russia and 2022 host Qatar.
Saturday's draw ceremony was conducted by Blatter's right-hand man, secretary general Jerome Valcke, on his second trip to Russia since May. Valcke has also avoided countries where he risks extradition to the U.S.
Opening the draw, FIFA paired four continents whose teams take part in two-leg playoffs in November 2017. A CONCACAF team will face an Asian team, and Oceania's champion will play a South American team.
The 2018 World Cup kicks off on June 14 and the final is on July 15. Those matches are at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the main venue of the 1980 Olympics which is being rebuilt for the world's most-watched sports event.
