World Cup draw 2018: England to play Belgium, Tunisia and Panama at next summer's tournament in Russia

Gareth Southgate's team learned their World Cup fate at the ceremonial draw in Moscow on Friday, and have been placed in the same group as Belgium, Tunisia and Panama

England were granted a forgiving World Cup draw, and a potential path to the quarter-final, as they avoided all of the former champions and landed in Group G with Belgium, Panama and Tunisia with a first game against the African team in Volgograd on 18 June.

There was no truly old-fashioned ‘group of death’ in the competition, although the closest are probably B (Portugal, Spain, Morocco and Iran), D (Argentina, Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria) and F (Germany, Mexico, Sweden and Korea).

Hosts Russia were meanwhile given an easy draw, with the tournament’s opening game coming between them and Saudi Arabia in Moscow on 14 June, before fixtures against Egypt and Uruguay.

After the match against Tunisia - a repeat of 1998 - England will play against debutants Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday 24 June before a decider against highly-fancied Belgium in Kaliningrad on Thursday 28 June.

The other benefit to that draw for Gareth Southgate’s side is that they have also avoided a heavyweight if they get through to the last 16, with the winners of their group set to play whoever comes through Group H - Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan.

The World Cup’s first real big match is on the second day, as 2010 champions Spain meet Euro 2016 winners Portugal in Sochi.

Vladimir Putin opened the draw, and promised “a major sporting festival of friendship and fair play”.

Southgate, who played in England's game against Tunisia in 1998, told the BBC after the draw: "It's the first thing that went through my mind.

"It was a fantastic day as a player to play in a brilliant occasion, an incredible atmosphere our fans made that day. So (it's) nice to be able to relive that."

Asked what he knows about Tunisia, Southgate added: "We've got to find that out now. We haven't done as much research on the African teams as yet.

"That's what's great; you know where you're playing, who you're playing and now we can really start to focus in on that.

"There's a little bit of travelling (after the first game) and maybe gives us the opportunity for injuries if we get them to clear up. You're always grateful for as much preparation time as possible for any game."

Panama will be playing in their first World Cup finals in Russia, but Southgate insisted he would be taking nothing for granted after England's exit from the 2016 European Championships at the hands of Iceland.

"We've been good at writing teams off and then getting beaten by them haven't we?" he added. "We've got to make sure we're prepared for all of those games.

"It's fantastically exciting to be here for the draw with every other coach. I'm really looking forward to getting on with it now.

"The objective is to qualify from the group. You're never quite sure how many points you need for that and there will be ups and downs along the way I'm sure.

"For me personally, to play in a World Cup for my country was an incredible honour. To lead my country there as a manager is beyond that."