England have been drawn alongside Wales, Russia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kazakhstan in the qualifying stage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The top-placed nation in Group 1 will advance to the finals, which are being staged in France, with the runners-up making it through to two rounds of play-offs.
The qualifiers will run from 11 September 2017 to 4 September 2018, with the play-offs scheduled for October and November 2018.
The Lionesses defeated Bosnia twice in qualifying for Euro 2017 and met Wales on the road to Canada 2015. England and Russia last met in a 1-1 draw at Euro 2013.
Mark Sampson led England to a third-place finish at Canada 2015, the second best finish by any Three Lions team at a World Cup.
England have not lost a World Cup qualifier since November 2002, when they slipped to a 1-0 defeat by France in the second leg of a play-off match.
Sampson said: “The way the game has grown over the last couple of years, we were always going to be up against teams that would make it a challenge.
“There is no doubt that we will have two difficult matches against both Russia and Wales.
“We’re more than aware of what sort of challenge Bosnia will pose, having played them in the last qualifying campaign.
“And the trip to Kazakhstan will bring with it its own challenges in terms of the distance.
“So there are plenty of challenges for us to overcome – but challenges that we can overcome.
“We’re looking to win all eight matches, as we always want to do, on the road to France.”
Group 2: Switzerland, Scotland, Poland, Belarus, Albania
Group 3: Norway, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Northern Ireland
Group 4: Sweden, Denmark, Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia
Group 5: Germany, Iceland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Faroe Islands
Group 6: Italy, Belgium, Romania, Portugal, Moldova
Group 7: Spain, Austria, Finland, Serbia, Israel
