DOHA — Saudi Arabia will face Argentina, Mexico and Poland at the Qatar World Cup later this year after FIFA carried out the draw for football's most famous tournament in Doha on Friday.

The Green Falcons will open their World Cup account against Argentina Nov. 22. Then take on Poland four days later, followed by Mexico on Nov. 30.

Hosts Qatar, who will open the tournament on Nov. 21 against Ecuador, are in a group that also contains the Netherlands and Senegal.

North African rivals Tunisia and Morocco are both in tough groups, with the former drawn to face reigning world champions France, along with Denmark and the winners of a playoff between Peru and the UAE or Australia.

Morocco will play European powerhouses Belgium and Croatia, as well as Canada. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will take place from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18.

As in previous tournaments, countries are split into eight groups of four, who will play each other. The top two in each group will advance to the knockout phase of the contest.

Among the highlights, Spain and Germany are drawn in the same Group E, while England have been drawn against Iran for the first time in Group B, which also features the US.

Although 32 countries will compete in the World Cup finals, there are 37 in the draw because there are still qualifying matches undecided, in particular involving Ukraine.

Ukraine was originally scheduled to play Scotland in a European playoff, but the match was postponed until June because of Russia's invasion. The winner plays Wales for Europe's final spot.

Costa Rica finished fourth in the North and Central America and the Caribbean qualifying group and goes into an intercontinental playoff against New Zealand.

Peru defeated Paraguay 2-0 on Tuesday to finish fifth in South America's qualifying group and will compete for a berth against the winner of Asia's fifth-place playoff between Australia and the United Arab Emirates on June 7. — Agencies