England Down in 2010 Seedings
23rd November, 2007
England’s defeat to Croatia on Wednesday has seen them drop to 12th place in the world rankings after being leap-frogged by Greece. This means that they are no longer in the top nine European countries that go into the 2010 World Cup draw, to be made in Durban on Sunday.
Being in the second group of seeds means that England are likely to be placed in a group with a high class team, potentially having to qualify against the likess of Italy, France or Germany. Scotland find themselves in the same position, now ranked 14th after a fall of one place.
Argentina are the top ranked side, with Brazil and World Champions Italy close behind. Spain have risen to places to fourth, and the Czech Republic have also seen steady rise, moving up three places to sixth.
The European sides will face a new method of qualifying for the World Cup, with all 53 teams being split into nine groups, consisting of eight groups of six teams and one of five. The winner of each group will automatically qualify for the World Cup finals, will the best eight second-places sides playing off for the remaining four qualification spots.
The nine top seeded teams are expected to be Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Croatia and current European Champions, Greece. England, if the seedings stay the same, will face one of these teams in their group.
