Just over a month from now, from June 2-11, the fourth Socca World Cup will take place in the German city of Essen.

This year, 44 countries will compete for the title of the strongest small-sided football team, including Lithuania's football team, which will be participating in its third Socca World Cup.

Tonight, at 8 pm Lithuanian time, the World Cup organizers will hold a draw ceremony, during which the 44 teams will be divided into 11 groups. 32 teams will advance to the knockout stage this year.

Before the draw ceremony, the pots of the teams were revealed. Lithuania, ranked 22nd among small-sided football teams, made it into the second pot.

The same pot includes countries such as Hungary, Slovenia, Ukraine, Latvia, Croatia, Portugal, the United States, Belgium, Chile, and Georgia. This means that Lithuania will definitely not be in the same group as these teams.

The host country Germany, defending champion Brazil, runner-up Kazakhstan, perennial World Cup contender Poland, and countries such as Greece, England, Mexico, Moldova, Scotland, France, and Romania are in the first pot.

It should be noted that Lithuania's small-sided football team made its debut at the Socca World Cup in Crete (Greece) in 2019 and managed to reach the round of 16.

Last year in Budapest (Hungary), Lithuania's football team played in the same group as Morocco, Costa Rica, Slovenia, and Poland. Our country's players beat the first two teams but lost to Slovenia and Poland and ended their performance in the group stage.

This year, Lithuania will not play Slovenia in the group stage, and you can see all possible opponents below.

2023 Socca World Cup pots:

Pot 1: Germany, Poland, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Greece, England, Mexico, Moldova, Scotland, France, Romania.

Pot 2: Slovenia, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia, Croatia, Portugal, USA, Belgium, Chile, Lithuania, Georgia.

Pot 3: Italy, Oman, Egypt, Argentina, Morocco, Costa Rica, Mauritius, China, Turkey, Spain, Albania.

Pot 4: Colombia, Cyprus, India, Uruguay, Peru, Ivory Coast, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar.