The 16-team tournament is under the aegis of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA).

The nearly five-year-old body comprises members who may be categorised as nations, minorities, isolated dependencies or cultural regions not under the auspices of FIFA.

This takes in a hugely diverse range of entities, from Greenland to Zanzibar.

The draw, which took place in Northern Cyprus, split qualifiers into four groups.

As arguably the strongest of these, Group Two – bracketing defending champions Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, Tibet and Felvidék, a Hungarian-inhabited region of Slovakia - has been characterised as the "group of death".

Other groups will be as follows: Group One – Barawa, a region of Somalia, Ellan Vannin, the Isle of Man, Tamil Eelam, part of Sri Lanka, and Cascadia, western North America. Group Three - European champions Padania, part of Italy, Székely Land, a Hungarian part of Romania, Kiribati and Matabeleland; Group Four – Panjab, United Koreans in Japan, Western Armenia and Kabylia, part of Algeria.

"The draw has provided some interesting and unusual encounters, and we are sure all games will entertain the large crowds that we are sure London is going to supply," said Per-Anders Blind, CONIFA’s President, whose origins lie in a minority population in Swedish Lappland.

Specific venues for the competition have yet to be confirmed, though Blind said last year the body was in negotiation with different London clubs, including Charlton Athletic and Barnet.

Tickets are expected to go on sale shortly.