It has been a long time coming but a top seeded Wales will find out their fate for the next World Cup qualifying campaign on Saturday when the draw takes place in St. Petersburg.
With the qualifying campaign for the European Championships still in full swing, attention will turn briefly to the 2018 World Cup when the teams all find out who they will face in their group to earn their spot in Russia.
Wales, who are now ranked in the Top 10 countries in the world are a top seed for the draw thanks to their impressive run of results that have seen them leap to the top of their qualifying group and in with an excellent chance of being in France next summer for a first finals since 1958.
They sit in a pool of teams that also includes Germany, Belgium, Holland, Romania, England, Portugal, Spain and Croatia. There will be seven groups of six and two of five although it is guaranteed that England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Holland will all be drawn into a group of six so there is a good chance that one of the smaller groups will await Wales.
Only the nine group winners are guaranteed a place in Russia with the best eight runners up drawn into four play off ties with the winners proceeding. One runner up will miss out completely.
The pots are as follows:
Pot one: Germany, Belgium, Holland, Romania, England, WALES, Portugal, Spain, Croatia.
Pot two: Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Iceland, Denmark, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Pot three: Poland, Ukraine, Scotland, Hungary, Sweden, Albania, Northern Ireland, Serbia, Greece.
Pot four: Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Bulgaria, Faroe Islands, Montenegro, Estonia.
Pot five: Cyprus, Latvia, Armenia, Finland, Belarus, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Moldova.
Pot six: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Georgia, Malta, San Marino, Andorra.
The first matches are played on 4-6 September 2016 and the last group matches on 8-10 October 2017. The play-offs are in November 2017 and the World Cup finals run from 14 June—15 July 2018.
You can watch the draw live on Sky Sports tomorrow (July 25th) at 4pm