Little-known 'cold weather' rule impacts World Cup qualifying draw as England handed tough group
The European qualifying draw for the 2026 World Cup has taken place and featured several bizarre rules that most football fans will be unaware of.
Canada, Mexico and the United States will host the next edition of the tournament, the first to feature 48 teams - with 16 coming from Europe alone.
Argentina are the defending champions, having beaten France on penalties after arguably the greatest final of all time ended 3-3 at Qatar 2022.
England will be confident of qualifying for the tournament after being handed a relatively favourable group.
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They will face Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in Group K.
The qualification draw went off without a hitch in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday morning and there were several rules keeping certain nations away from each other which fans might not know about.
UEFA and FIFA have ruled that Ukraine and Belarus cannot be in the same group for political reasons in the wake of invasion of the former country, while Russia remains entirely banned from international competition.
Gibraltar and Spain also cannot face each other because of political reasons, while Kosovo must be kept apart from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
But there are other, more bizarre, rules blocking countries from facing each other.
As reported by the BBC, weather is also a factor.
Because of the potential cold conditions, a maximum of two of Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway can be drawn together.
Meanwhile, Iceland and the Faroes cannot be drawn together as they are considered the two countries most at risk of weather disruptions.
Finally, there are also geographical limits on who Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iceland can face in the draw because of their locations on the edge of UEFA's territory.
Full UEFA qualifying draw for 2026 World Cup
Group A: Winner of Germany vs Italy, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg
Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo
Group C: Loser of Portugal vs Denmark, Greece, Scotland, Belarus
Group D: Winner of France vs Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan
Group E: Winner of Spain vs Netherlands, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria
Group F: Winner of Portugal vs Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Armenia
Group G: Loser of Spain vs Denmark, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta
Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino
Group I: Loser of Germany vs Italy, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova
Group J: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechenstein
Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra
Group L: Loser of France vs Croatia, Czechia, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar
Topics: Football, England, FIFA World Cup, FIFA, UEFA
Rory O'Callaghan