The 2022 World Cup will be upon us before we know it.
With World Cup qualifiers across the six footballing continents gradually coming to their conclusion, fans can start looking ahead to what will prove to be a truly unique competition next winter.
Watching tournament football beside the Christmas tree will certainly feel unique, but that same old buzz of watching nations compete at the highest level will be pretty tough to beat regardless.
The 2022 World Cup edges closer
However, it's difficult to think too hard about the 2022 World Cup creeping up on us without thinking about practical and key topics such as, well, who the hell do we think is going to win the thing?
Besides, it's one thing keeping an eye on which nations will qualify for the tournament and another thing trying to foresee which of those 32 countries will lift the famous gold trophy at the end of it all.
How Brendan Rodgers Could Transform Man Utd (Football Terrace)
And while we won't truly be able to get a clear idea of how the contenders are lining up until the final nations are confirmed and squads are locked in, when has there ever been any harm in trying anyway?
After all, now that we're getting a better idea of who will and won't be battling it out in Qatar, we can turn to the foresight of the bookies will a little more confidence in their rankings of the competitors.
The favourites to win the 2022 World Cup
So, as we stride close and closer to the winter World Cup of a lifetime, we thought that it would be rude not to check in with SkyBet and see who they considered to be the favourites to go all the way.
Be sure to check out every country with odds less than 100/1 at the time of writing down below:
16. Serbia - 80/1
15. Switzerland - 66/1
=12. Uruguay - 50/1
=12. Croatia - 50/1
=12. Colombia - 50/1
11. Denmark - 28/1
=9. Netherlands - 16/1
=9. Portugal - 16/1
8. Italy - 12/1
7. Belgium - 11/1
=5. Germany - 10/1
=5. Argentina - 10/1
4. Spain - 8/1
3. England - 7/1
2. France - 6/1
1. Brazil - 11/2
England are currently third-favourites
Right, there we have it then, football will only be coming home if England can get the better of Brazil and France.
Ok, yes, it's not quite as simple as that and you only have to look at Euro 2020 for proof with France going into the tournament as favourites only to go knocked out in the round of 16 with just one win.
It really does go to show that whoever has the most impressive squad and comes out on top with the bookies isn't always the strongest team when it comes down to the games themselves.
That's not to say that Serbia are going to stage the mother of all sporting upsets, of course, but the moral of the story is that England shouldn't be perturbed by two top sides sitting ahead of them.
Besides, that's what we love about international tournaments because no matter what you've been doing for the last four years, it all comes down to a maximum of seven games and nothing else.
We can barely contain our excitement.
