1950 World Cup - Brazil

England were in Pool Two with Chile, Spain and the United States. They failed to qualify for the Final Pool.

The Times - May 24, 1950: The matches in this pool will be played in Belo Horizonte. The dates of the matches had not been decided when the draw was made in the library room of the Foreign Office. Reuter

1954 World Cup - Switzerland

England were in Pool D with Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. They won the group and qualified for the quarter-finals, where they lost to the holders, Uruguay.

The Times - December 1, 1953: Each team will play the other three in its group and the two teams with most points in each group will go forward to the quarter-final round. The tournament will then be decided on a knock-out basis. Reuter

Note: England and Italy were named as seeds in England's group and would, therefore, not have to play each other. Scotland were listed in Group Three, even though they had not qualified at that stage. Spain were named as one of the seeds in Group Two and then failed to qualify (Turkey taking their place).

1958 World Cup - Sweden

England were in Pool Four with Austria, Brazil and the USSR. They failed to qualify for the quarter-finals after losing a play-off to the USSR.

The Times - February 10, 1958:

WORLD CUP DRAW OFFERS ENGLAND SEVERE TEST: Giants come face to face in preliminary group

England's hopes of winning the World Cup suffered a blow when the flower of Manchester United lay tragically scattered in the snow of Munich Airport last Thursday. Those same hopes took another jolt on Saturday when the organizing committee of F.I.F.A. assembled in Stockholm to make the draw for the final stages of the World Cup competition, to be held in Sweden from June 8 to 29...

1962 World Cup - Chile

England were in Group Four with Argentina, Bulgaria and Hungary. They qualified for the quarter-finals, where they lost to the holders and eventual winners, Brazil

The Times - January 19, 1962: Hungary beat England 6-3 at Wembley, and 7-1 at Budapest in 1954. Hungary also beat England 2-0 in Budapest in 1960. Uruguay was seeded first, with Chile second, Brazil third, and Argentina fourth. It was agreed earlier that...Uruguay will be included in the group to play at Arica, and Argentina in the group to play at Rancagua. Reuter

1966 World Cup - England

England were in Group One with France, Mexico and Uruguay. They won the group, qualified for the quarter-finals and then went on to win the competition.

The Times - January 7, 1966:

WORLD CUP DRAW BECKONS ENGLAND TO LAST EIGHT: Matches with France, Mexico and Uruguay at Wembley

The eighth World Cup Association football competition will be played in England this summer from July 11 to 30, when the climax will come at Wembley Stadium. Yesterday the last 16 nations for the final line-up, 14 qualifiers and the two exempted countries, England, as hosts, and Brazil, as holders, survivors from an original field of 72 - were drawn into four groups each of four teams...

1970 World Cup - Mexico

The Times - January 12, 1970:

ENGLAND START WITH STERN TEST (Geoffrey Green)

When the 10-year-old daughter of Guillermo Cañedo, president of the Mexican Football Association - a wealthy man with a score and more of fighting bulls to his name and a two foot scar on his body as a relic of his days behind the red cape - pulled the name of Brazil out of a silver cup to be paired with England in Group 3 of the World Cup final tournament, a stir like an electric current ran through the thronged company at the Hotel Maria Isabel in Mexico City on Saturday...

The Times - January 18, 1982:

Assessing the World Cup draw which is kind to England but cruel to Scotland (N Ireland's outlook is the sunniest) (Stuart Jones - Jan 17)

If the Spaniards mean to go on as they started, the World Cup tournament is doomed. The draw, held in the Exhibition and Congress Palace yesterday evening became an embarrassment on the grandest scale as the country, described by João Havelange, the president of FIFA, as the cradle of civilization, left the most onerous of tasks in the small hands of Juan Centos Cuemada, at the age of 11 the youngest of three carrying out the operation...

The Times - December 16, 1985:

ROBSON'S APPOINTMENT WITH FEAR IN A CONTEST THAT IS ANYBODY'S GAME: Neither Scots nor English have cause to go into a Mexican hat dance over the World Cup draw (Stuart Jones)

Bobby Robson's worst fears were realized in Mexico City yesterday. England, the last of the 24 World Cup finalists to be drawn out of the hat, have been sent to the one place he wanted to avoid, Monterrey. They will be joined in the northern industrial centre, where the temperature will be as high as the altitude is low, by Poland, Portugal and Morocco...

England were in Group F with Egypt, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. They won the group, qualified for the second round and went on to finish fourth, after losing to West Germany, on penalties, in the semi-finals.

The Times - December 11, 1989:

HOME NATIONS' FUTURES AT STAKE (David Miller)

There is an unseen reason why England and Scotland need to win their respective last and first World Cup matches next summer against Egypt and Costa Rica. Victories against allegedly weaker African and Central American opponents will not merely be important to their passage to the second round; they would help maintain the by no means globally accepted existence within FIFA of four British associations...

The Times - December 5, 1997:

ENGLAND ABLE TO DRAW COMFORT (Oliver Holt)

Out of the darkness that shrouded the Stade Vélodrome, England were lit up by a dazzling shaft of light here last night. There may be no easy touches in the World Cup finals that will take place in France next summer, but when the draw was made for the tournament and England were allotted the third position in group G, a mixture of relief and elation spread over the face of Glenn Hoddle...

The Times - December 3, 2001:

ERIKSSON TURNS TO GROUP THERAPY AS ENGLAND DRAW SHORT STRAW (Matt Dickinson)

The gasps of the audience in the Bexco Convention Hall here in Busan must have echoed through Sven-Göran Eriksson's head as he made the long journey home from the World Cup draw yesterday. The trick now is to convince his players that it was Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria and not the England delegation who held their breath in awe at the assignment ahead...

The Times - December 10, 2005:

ENGLAND HANDED PAINLESS START: Paraguay provide opening test, Trinidad should be conquered, Sweden clash may not matter, Brazil lie in wait in semi (Matt Dickinson)

By the time that Sven-Göran Eriksson and his players fly to Germany in June, plans will already have been laid for an open-top bus ride to Trafalgar Square. It would be some celebration after 40 years of hurt for English football and, after last night's World Cup draw, there should be no fear of cancellation before the second round...

2010 World Cup - South Africa

The Times - December 5, 2009:

Simply irresistible not to look ahead after one of the most favourable draws in England's history: Group stage should be plain sailing and lead to at least a place in the last four (Oliver Kay)

As evening drew over Cape Town, the sun still shone brightly on the England delegation. It might be different come June, when winter descends, but Fabio Capello and his players will return to South Africa next summer with a spring in their step after a draw last night that could hardly have been more favourable...

2022 World Cup - Qatar

The Times - April 2, 2022:

THAT'LL DO NICELY: Southgate welcomes kind World Cup draw - but says meeting with Wales, Scotland or Ukraine will pose 'emotional' test (Martyn Ziegler)

Gareth Southgate expects a "highly emotional" last group match for England after his side were pitted against one of Scotland, Wales or Ukraine - as well as Iran and the United States - for the first stage of the World Cup finals in Qatar.

Note: Wales won through to the finals to join England after beating Ukraine (who had earlier beaten Scotland in the semi-final) in the play-off final.