The road to Qatar begins here.

The draw for qualification to the 2022 Qatar World Cup took place in Zurich this evening with Stephen Kenny's side unquestionably in for a rough ride. In many ways, Ireland's fate was sealed during a goalless November, which saw them drop out of Europe's top 20 and into a third seed for this World Cup group stage draw. As one of the lower ranked sides, Ireland were guaranteed to pitted against some of the world's finest and that's exactly how it's transpired, with games against Portugal and Serbia on the horizon in Group A of the competition. https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1336003308448866305 With each team facing each other home and away, it will mean that stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and co. will be coming to Dublin. It goes without saying that qualifying for the World Cup will be a much more difficult task than making it to the Euros - with only the group winners guaranteed their place at the tournament. Beyond that, each second placed team will head for the play-offs as will the two best Nations League ranked remaining. The group stage will begin in March 21 of next year, and ends with playoffs in March 2022.

Ireland's draw in full (Group A)

• Ireland
• Portugal
• Serbia
• Luxembourg
• Azerbaijan

The full World Cup groups meanwhile, can be seen here. https://twitter.com/FIFAWorldCup/status/1336005254362636296