Croatia paired with Brazil, Mexico and Cameroon

Brazil will host the World Cup (June 12th - July 13th) next year, and in the group stage 32 teams are placed in eight groups with four teams.

The Final Draw was held in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, an paired Niko Kovač's Croatia with the host nation Brazil, Mexico and Cameroon.

Croatia will play the World Cup opening match against Brazil, on June 12th in Sao Paulo. On June 18th, Croatia will play Cameroon in Manaus, and then close the group stage in Recife, on June 23th against Mexico.

Italy was first moved to Pot 2 and then ended up in Uruguay's group, while the assistants in draw were footballing legends, representatives of the World Cup champions: Geoff Hurst, Mario Kempes, Fabio Cannavaro, Lothar Matthaus, Zinedine Zidane, Fernando Hierro, Cafu and Alcides Ghiggia.

The defending champions, Spain, will start against the 2010 finalists, the Netherlands.

Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon.
Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia.
Group C: Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan.
Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy.
Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras.
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria.
Group G: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA.
Group H: Belgium, Algeria, Russia, Korea Republic.