FIFA World Cup 2010: England Comfirmed as First Seed for Friday's Draw

FIFA have this morning announced the method by which they have determined the seeded teams for Friday’s upcoming World Cup draw.

The seeding was based on the October FIFA World Rankings , meaning that the following seven teams join South Africa as first seeds: Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, and England.

France and Portugal miss out on a seeding, despite finishing second and fourth respectively at the last World Cup, after their FIFA World Ranking dropped following a relatively poor qualifying performance that only saw them book their places in South Africa via the playoffs.

The decision to use only the FIFA World Rankings to determine seeding is a first for FIFA with the past few tournaments having taken into account each country’s performance at recent World Cups as well as their World Ranking.

The main beneficiary from this change in method is the Netherlands, who would have missed out on a seeding to France if the same formula had been used from the 2006 World Cup.

The October rankings have been used ahead of the current November rankings as the latter gave what FIFA considered an unfair advantage to those teams who played competitive playoff matches in October.

The use of the November rankings would have seen Portugal and France seeded ahead of Argentina and England as they picked up many more ranking points after their playoff wins.

The decision reflects the growing importance that FIFA gives to their World Rankings, which were first introduced in 1993, especially since their overhaul in 2005.

The remaining pots for the draw are as expected . Pot No. 2 is made up of the Asian qualifiers, plus New Zealand, and the three CONCACAF qualifiers.

Pot No. 3 has the five African qualifiers (excluding South Africa who are automatically seeded as hosts) alongside the remaining three South American teams. The remaining eight European teams will make up Pot No. 4.

FIFA will employ geographical criteria in the draw to ensure that no two teams from the same confederation are drawn in the same group, with the exception of European teams. Therefore, South Africa will not be drawn against another African team so can only face Chile, Paraguay, or Uruguay from Pot No. 3. Equally those three South American teams cannot be drawn into either Brazil or Argentina’s group.

The draw will be made on Friday, Dec. 4 in Cape Town.

Pot No. 1:  South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, and England

Pot No. 2:  Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Honduras, Mexico, USA, and New Zealand

Pot No. 3:  Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

Pot No. 4:  Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland