England among top seeds for World Cup

England among top seeds for World Cup

England's World Cup hopes have been given a major boost after they were named as one of the eight top seeds for next summer's finals - but France miss out.

FIFA's World Cup organising committee announced the seeds based on October's FIFA world rankings and Fabio Capello's side will avoid host country South Africa plus footballing giants Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany and Argentina in the group stage.

With France and Portugal unseeded however, Capello will be acutely aware that his side could still end up in a tough group in Friday's draw.

France were involved in a hugely-controversial play-off win over the Republic of Ireland and there is the suspicion that Les Bleus are being punished for Thierry Henry's infamous handball.

FIFA insist however that had no bearing on their decision - but they have abandoned their previous practice and used rankings alone rather than also taking into account performances at previous finals.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke insisted there was no agenda against France.

Valcke said: "In the past the seedings have been determined by a mixture of world rankings and performances in past World Cups but this time the feeling was the October rankings most closely represented the best teams in the tournament."

Using previous formulas, France would have been seeded and not Holland. Had the November rankings been used then England would have missed out and France been seeded.

Valcke added: "We made the decision last month that the October rankings would be used because they were fairer - countries who had been involved in the play-offs would have had an unfair advantage because they would have played more games and that affects their rankings.

"This is not a case of wanting Holland or any other country to be seeded instead of France, just that the feeling was the October seedings represented the best teams."

There will be four pots in the draw - one containing the top seeds, the second with countries from Asia, Oceania and north/central America, the third with the five other African nations and three South American countries, and a fourth pot with the other eight European countries.

A worst-case scenario would see England drawn in a group with France or Portugal from the European pot, an Ivory Coast side boasting Didier Drogba and the USA, beaten finalists in the Confederations Cup last summer.

The best scenario would see England take on Slovenia, Algeria and North Korea.

Rankings alone have not been used in the past but FIFA relaunched the system with much fanfare a couple of years ago, boasting the new-look rankings were much more indicative of a country's current position in world football.

Seeding Pots

One: Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain.

Two: Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, USA.

Three: Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay.

Four: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland.