(Times are EST +05:00)
Group A: Russia, Uruguay, Egypt, Saudi Arabia
Group B: Portugal, Spain, Iran, Morocco.
Group C: France, Peru, Denmark, Australia
Group D: Argentina, Croatia, Iceland, Nigeria
Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
Group F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea
Group G: Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
Group H: Poland, Colombia, Senegal, Japan
Brazil (5-1)
A 1-10 aggregate score in their last 180 minutes of World Cup football, Brazil surprised many by successfully qualifying for Russia. A run of good luck could see them make the final 16.
Star player: Neymar
Germany (5-1)
Germany aim to win the consecutive World Cups for the first time since Brazil in 1958/1962.
Star player: Mario Gotze
France (6-1)
Annoyingly, France are really good. Their MF/FW lines are ****ing scary. Only the LOLFrance factor prevents them opening as favourites.
Star player: Antoine Griezmann
Spain (8-1)
Not at the heights of their 2008-2012 EPO era, Spain still pose a serious threat of reaching the quarter finals before crashing out in hilarious fashion.
Star player: David De Gea
Argentina (9-1)
OTOH Argentina winning would be great for the Ronaldo tears. OTOH, Argentina winning would suck because they're Argentina.
Star player: Lionel Messi
Belgium (12-1)
"Belgium are good?"
"Yes"
"Like, really good?"
"Yes"
"Have they always been good?"
"No"
"So Belgium were ****, and then five years ago fifteen elite Belgian footballers came along at once"
"Yup"
"How did that happen?"
"IDK"
Star player: Kevin De Bruyne
England (18-1)
England will win the World Cup.
Star player: Peter Crouch
Portugal (28-1)
Possibly the most overrated team in the tournament - Portugal will do well to exit the group stages.
Star player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Uruguay (33-1)
Uruguay (popn ~ 3.5 mm) look to win their third World Cup title. A favourable draw gives La Celeste’s aging but still dangerous squad a decent chance at making a run.
Star player: Luis Suárez
Colombia (40-1)
Los Cafeteros hope to wake up the World Cup's most competitive group.
Star player: Radamel Falcao
Croatia (40-1)
Sporters of the best kit in the World Cup, Croatia's excellent midfield and all around strength could see them through to the Quarter Finals.
Star player: Luka Modrić
Russia (40-1)
The lowest ranked team, Russia qualified after winning hosting rights in an extremely fair, transparent and non corrupt manner.
Star player: Vladimir Putin
Poland (66-1)
Poland top seeding is due entirely to their footballing brilliance & completely unrelated to FIFA's "eccentric" ranking system.
Star player: Robert Lewandowski
Denmark (100-1)
The only third seed who markets favour to qualify from their group, Denmark hope to replicate their Euro 1992 success (it's unlikely).
Star player: Christian Eriksen
Switzerland (100-1)
FIFA's joke rankings almost gave a top seed to the Swiss. They're not great, but solid allround and should make the RO16. Picking a star man is tough to do, but any excuse to post this GIF...
Star player: Xherdan Shaqiri
Mexico (125-1)
Mexico will avoid the anguish of losing in the Round of 16 for the sixth successive World Cup by crashing out at the group stage.
Star player: Hirving "El Chucky" Liddell
(Thanks Cruzin)
Sweden (125-1)
Will Zlatan Ibrahimovic come out of international retirement before June? Or will Zlatan Ibrahimovic come out of retirement before April? Who knows!
Star player: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Senegal (200-1)
Forever beloved of football fans worldwide after hilariously defeating former colonial masters France in 2002, 2018 marks the second appearance of The Lions of Teranga on the grand stage.
Star player: Sadio Mané
Serbia (200-1)
The only UEFA team in the fourth seeding pot, Serbia hope that replicating 2010's 1-0 victory over Germany when they play Brazil will get them out of the group stage of the World Cup for the first time.
Star player: Nemanja Matic
Iceland (250-1)
Everyone's second team - Iceland has more volcanoes that professional footballers (really). Most famous for getting extremely lucky in the final 16 of Euro 2016 - Iceland are actually pretty good!
Star player: Gylfi Sigurðsson
Nigeria (250-1)
One of only two sub-saharan African nations to qualify, Nigeria's strong attack and weak defence could make for some fun games.
Victor Moses
Peru (250-1)
Better-than-the-sum-of-their-parts, or lucky? Peru's qualified for their first World Cup in 36 years despite a dearth of star names.
Star player: Paolo Guerrero
Egypt (300-1)
Egypt are seven times African Cup of Nations champions, yet they’ve never won a match in the World Cup finals. 2018 is their time qualifying for the big show.
Star player: Mohamed Salah Ghaly
Japan (300-1)
The Samurai Blue's make their sixth successive World Cup appearance. Also, their sixth World Cup appearance.
Star player: Shinji Kagawa
Costa Rica (500-1)
The surprise of 2014 - Costa Rica topped a group featuring England, Italy & Uruguay. Likely to find going tougher in less favourable atmospheric conditions Los Ticos are just grateful to USA's comedy troupe/football team for making qualification so easy.
Star player: Keylor Navas
Morocco (500-1)
Noone is quite sure how - but a group of Frenchmen & Dutchmen didn't fancy trying to qualify from UEFA (smart move by the Dutch!) convinced FIFA to let them have a go at qualifying from Africa. The plan worked and then some - The Lions of the Atlas qualified unbeaten, without conceding a goal!.
Star player: Medhi Benatia
Australia (750-1)
Most people wouldn't expect Australia to be good at "soccer". They'd be right. This is not a vintage version of the Socceroos. It feels odd calling Aaron Mooy a star, so:
Star player: Tim Cahill
Iran (750-1)
Team Melli put up a credible performance in Brazil 2014 - only losing 1-0 to Argentina due to a 91st minute Lionel Messi goal. No player in Group B is remotely as good as Lionel Messi - so Team Melli will hope to spring an upset and qualify for the last sixteen.
Star player: Reza "Gucci" Ghoochannejhad
South Korea (750-1)
Provided they make it to the World Cup without incinerating in a nuclear fireball, South Korea have one of the better chances to make the final six out of the fourth seed teams. They're in a competitive group.
Star player: Son Heung-Min
Tunisia (750-1)
The Eagles of Carthage can count themselves unlucky. Twenty years after being drawn in the same group as the best team at the 1998 World Cup (England), they find themselves in the same group as the best team at the 2018 World Cup (England).
Star player: Wahbi Khazri
Panama (2000-1)
Lacking star power, La Marea Roja qualified thanks to the management skills of Bruce Arena.
Star player: Blas Perez
Saudi Arabia (2000-1)
Qualifying for the first time in 12 years - Saudi Arabia’s last ten matches in the World Cup consist of zero wins, two draws, eight defeats with five goals scored and twenty nine conceded. Blessed with the weakest group in World Cup history, they’ll still do well to qualify for the RO16.
Star player: Usama Hawsawi