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Reuters - Hosts Germany and champions Brazil
were named in the top eight seeded teams for the World Cup draw on Tuesday
along with England, Spain, Mexico, France, Argentina and Italy.
FIFA have split the remaining 24 teams according to their confederations
rather than their current world rankings or past World Cup performances.
However, there is no place at the top table for the Czech Republic,
currently second in the FIFA world rankings, or the Netherlands, who are
third, or even the United States, ranked eighth, who edged Mexico to win the
CONCACAF qualifying competition for the first time in 71 years.
The Dutch won their tough qualifying group in which they were unbeaten in 12
matches. They miss out along with Portugal, ranked 10th in the world, who
also came through their 12-game qualifying campaign unbeaten.
In Friday's draw, which begins at 2030 local time (7:30 p.m. British time),
the first pot will contain the top eight teams with the second pot
containing the five African finalists: Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Angola
and Togo, plus the two lower ranked South American teams Ecuador and
Paraguay along with Australia, the winners of the Oceania qualifying
competition.
The third pot will comprise eight European teams: Croatia, Czech Republic,
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
The fourth pot will have four Asian teams: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South
Korea and the three remaining CONCACAF countries, Costa Rica, Trinidad &
Tobago and the United States.
A special pot will contain only Serbia & Montenegro, the lowest ranked
European team, to be placed in a group including either Brazil, Argentina or
Mexico.
FIFA created the special pot so they could avoid having any groups with more
than two European teams.
Jim Brown, FIFA's Director of Competitions explained: "The seedings were
based on FIFA rankings for the last three years and the last two World Cup
finals.
"Germany will be seeded in slot A1 in the draw and Brazil in F1, and there
were economic factors involved in this decision as those teams are
guaranteed to play in larger stadiums."
One team from each pot will be drawn into the eight groups in the first
stage of the finals in Germany which run from June 9 to July 9 next summer.
GERMANY OPEN
Germany will open the World Cup in Munich on June 9 and will then play in
Dortmund on June 14 and Berlin on June 20. Brazil will start their campaign
for a sixth title in Berlin on June 13 then play in Munich on June 18 and
Dortmund on June 22.
In a break with the past, FIFA have also ruled that any player selected to
play in the finals will not be allowed to play any other competitive match
after May 15, the deadline for the announcement of the finalists' 23-man
squads.
The only exception will be for those players involved in the Champions
League final which will now be held in Paris on May 17 rather than May 24.
The UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven has been brought forward from May 17 to May
10.
FIFA were unhappy with the lethargic performances of some leading players in
the 2002 finals and have now introduced the cut-off date to give players a
three-week break before the start of the competition.
"The 23 players on the list (for each of the 32 participating nations) will
not be available for any other competition (after this date)," FIFA general
secretary Urs Linsi said on Tuesday.
"We don't want burnt out players. They will be free from any other
engagement. The Champions League final is a special exception."
NO CHANGES
FIFA also ruled on Tuesday that if the draw produced any match likely to
pose a security threat it would not be moved from one location to another as
happened in Euro 2004 when UEFA moved two games from smaller towns to larger
ones.
FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said: "No matches will be moved from one
stadium to another, the only possible change might be in the kickoff time."
The eventual winner of the tournament will earn 24.50 million Swiss francs
in prize money, with the runners-up receiving 22.5 million Swiss francs.
In another new move, FIFA announced that the World Cup trophy would be taken
on a tour of 31 cities in 28 countries beginning in Accra, Ghana on January
7 and ending in Rome on April 10.
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