Who is Vanessa Huppenkothen? World Cup 2018 play-off draw host and TV presenter

DAUGHTER of a German footballer, Mexican football broadcaster Vanessa Huppenkothen has been chosen to front the World Cup play-off draw in Zurich.

The glamorous host is a fan of Schalke 04, can speak four languages and has featured on the cover of GQ Magazine.

Instagram @vanehupp

At the draw, the eight participating teams left will discover which nation stands between them and a place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Who is Vanessa Huppenkothen?

BORN to a Mexican mother and German footballer Dieter Huppenkothen, Vanessa split her time between Mexico City and Duisberg as a child.

Clearly influenced by her father, she became a fan of Bundesliga side Schalke as a child and still follows them today.

Huppenkothen studied International Relations back in Mexico and did modelling on the side – winning the Miss Sports Award at the Miss Mexico National Contest in 2007.

A year later she went into sports journalism and after a spate of reporting jobs followed the Mexican national team on their World Cup adventures in South Africa and Brazil.

She was also the cover model on GQ Magazine in June 2014, before moving to her current job at ESPN Mexico last year.

Huppenkothen will present this year’s World Cup European playoff draw in Zurich alongside former Spain international Fernando Hierro.

She tweeted shortly after the news was announced to say it was ‘an honour’.

She was married to Juan Fernández Recamier between 2011 and 2013, but is currently single after the marriage broke up.

Vanessa can is fluent in four languages – Spanish, English, German and French.

When is the World Cup play-off round draw, and how can I watch it?

The World Cup play-off round draw takes place on Tuesday October 17 in Zurich.

The draw takes place from 2pm.

Four teams with highest Fifa ranking will be seeded for the draw.

The event will be live streamed live on FIFA.com, Fifa’s Facebook page and Fifa’s YouTube channel.