England, Holland seeded; France, Portugal miss out
France and Portugal have not been named among the eight top seeds for next summer's World Cup. FIFA's World Cup organising committee announced the seeds today based on October's FIFA world rankings.
The host country South Africa plus Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England were named as the top seeds.
France and Portugal both needed a play-off to reach next summer's tournament, the French beating the Republic of Ireland in controversial circumstances and the Portuguese seeing of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The eight top seeds could all still end up in a tough group in Friday's draw, though.
There will be four pots in the draw - one containing the top seeds, pot two with countries from Asia, Oceania and north/central America, the third pot with the five other African nations and three South American countries, and a fourth pot containing the other eight European countries.
A worst-case scenario for a seeded team would see them 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 them take on Slovenia, Algeria and North Korea.
source:espn
