The six highest ranked teams of the first round were pre-seeded into groups A through F. Teams in their groups played each other once, a total of four matches; two home and two away matches. The draw for the first round was held on 19 August 2020, 19:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in زوریخ. The top team from each group advanced to the second round. Note that the کووید-۱۹ پاندمی‌سی caused many "home" games to be played at neutral venues outside the home teams' countries.