The Women's World Cup 2023 draw will take place on Saturday and Sarina Wiegman's Euro2022 champions could face some tricky draws with a first-ever 32 teams qualified for the showpiece tournament.
Australia and New Zealand will co-host the event beginning on the July 20 with the final played on August 20 at the Accor Stadium in Sydney. Republic of Ireland make their World Cup debut while the Lionesses will hope to add to their Euro 2022 glory, after previously finishing fourth in the 2019 World Cup in France and third in 2015 in Canada.
The 2023 World Cup is the first to include 32 teams competing in eight groups. Twenty-nine of the teams are already confirmed, with an inter-continental play-off in February to decide the remaining three entrants.
What time is the World Cup draw in the UK?
The draw to determine the groups and where each team will be based will take place on 22 October. Live coverage from Auckland will begin at 07:30 BST on the BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the Red Button.
How does it work?
The teams will be allocated into four pots with one country from each pot drawn to make eight groups of four.
The allocation of pots is based on the latest Fifa women's world rankings, with the tournament co-hosts Australia and New Zealand included in Pot 1 along with 4th-ranked England.
New Zealand and Australia have already been assigned groups, in position A1 and position B1. respectively. The remaining top-six sides will automatically be drawn into position 1 of each remaining group.
Teams from the same continent will be kept apart - except for European countries, where a maximum of two can be in any one group.
However, due to the winners of the inter-continental play-offs yet to be known, this stipulation could be broken and instances could arise in which two teams from the same continent are included in the same group.
Who is in it?
Pot 1 (seeded teams): New Zealand, Australia, United States, Sweden, Germany, England , France, Spain.
Pot 2: Canada, Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Italy, China, South Korea.
Pot 3: Denmark, Switzerland, Republic of Ireland , Colombia, Argentina, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Jamaica.
Pot 4: Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Morocco, Zambia, three play-off tournament winners.
Who are the three play-off tournament winners?
Portugal will compete alongside Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Cameroon, Senegal, Haiti, Panama, Chile, Paraguay and Papua New Guinea in a 10-team tournament which will take place in New Zealand in February 2023, to decide the last three finalists.
Who could England draw?
England avoid many of the big hitters, including defending champions United States of America who will be bidding to become the first-ever side to win the World Cup three times in a row.
Yet Wiegman's side still face the potential of a difficult draw, with reigning Olympic champions Canada, Euro 2017 runners-up Denmark and this year's Africa Cup of Nations winners South Africa comprising the worst case scenario.
In Pot 2, England will also hope to avoid Netherlands and Brazil, ranked eighth and ninth in the world, while Nigeria in Pot 3 could pose a threat, despite failing to defend their Women's Africa Cup of Nations crown in 2022.
A kinder draw could see England pit against China, Jamaica and Zambia.
What about Republic of Ireland?
A first-ever major tournament will see Vera Pauw's side looking to provide a shock factor.
An ideal scenario would be a draw against Pot 1's lowest ranked team in New Zealand, while in Pot 2, Italy, China or South Korea cut feasible contenders.
A kind draw could push them out of the group stages at the first time of asking.
Where will the matches take place?
The tournament will take place over 10 stadiums, with six in Australia and four in New Zealand.
Those teams drawn in Groups A, C, E and G will play their preliminary games in New Zealand, while those in Groups B, D, F and H will play in Australia.
The final on August 20 will be hosted in the competition's largest stadium - the 83,500-seater Accor Stadium in Sydney.
The opening game between New Zealand and a side in Group A will be held in New Zealand's largest stadium, the 50,000-seater Eden Park.
