England face a daunting start to their FIFA World Cup campaign having been drawn in Group D alongside Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy.

Holders Spain have been drawn in Group B against beaten finalists from 2010 the Netherlands, with Chile, Australia completing the line-up.

The draw took plane in the upmarket coastal resort town of Costa do Sauipe in the province of Bahia, Brazil, approximately 56 miles from the host city of Salvador.

The balls were drawn by famous players from previous tournament, including England’s 1966 hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst, France’s Zinedine Zidane, Brazil’s Cafu and Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro.

Zidane was kind to France, with his national side drawn alongside Switzerland, Ecuador, and Honduras in Group E.

Group F is composed of Argentina, Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria, while Germany, Ghana, Portugal and USA complete Group G.

There are 12 stadiums pencilled in to host matches next summer, with locations from the Amazon basin in the north to the banks of the River Guaiba in the south gearing up for the arrival of the world’s best players and hundreds of thousands of supporters.

Hosts Brazil will open the tournament and have been drawn alongside Mexico, Croatia and Cameroon in Group A.

Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan meanwhile make up Group C.

The draw is completed by Belgium, Algeria, Russia and South Korea in Group H.

England’s first game is against Italy in Manaus on June 14th, with kick-off at 02:00, while the tournament kicks off on June 12th with hosts Brazil against Croatia.