In their first World Cup finals in 28 years, Norway will face France and Senegal. The fourth and final opponent will be either Bolivia, Suriname or Iraq.

Bolivia and Suriname will meet in the semi-finals of the playoff game that will determine Norway's opponent. The winner will face Iraq in the final match.

Norway will face the aforementioned playoff team in the first group match of the World Cup. It will be played on June 16. Then Senegal awaits, before the group stage ends against France.

The World Cup draw was made at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on Friday. There are 188 days until the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico gets underway.

Norway was seeded in pot number three in Friday's draw. This means that the matches will be held on the east coast of the USA in the cities of Boston/New Jersey/Philadelphia. This means favorable TV times for football-loving Norwegians.

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has taken new steps ahead of the upcoming World Cup. The two highest-ranked teams, Spain and Argentina, cannot meet until the final if they both win their groups. England and France cannot meet the two top-ranked teams until the semi-finals if they also win their pools.

The top two teams in each group and the eight best third-place teams advance to the knockout rounds.

Stars and glamour

Friday's event in Washington was a star-studded affair. In addition to US President Donald Trump being in the audience and being awarded FIFA's controversial peace prize, the event was hosted by former supermodel Heidi Klum and comedian Kevin Hart.

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand and American TV personality Samantha Johnson had been given the job of guiding the audience and TV viewers through the group draw itself.

With them as assistants were highly profiled North American sports figures such as Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O'Neal.

NFL legend Eli Manning, who has helped win the Super Bowl twice, hosted the red carpet before the ceremony.

Twelve groups

The opening match of next year's World Cup will be played at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 11. The American giant arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, will host the final on July 19.

For the first time, there will be 48 teams in a soccer World Cup next year. The participants will be divided into twelve groups of four teams. A number of premises were set in advance for Friday's session, such as the host nations USA, Canada and Mexico being the top seeds.

There were many exciting moments in advance for national team manager Ståle Solbakken, who was in Washington. The outcome naturally sets the stage for Norway's chances of advancing to the cup competition.