Fifa reveal World Cup draw format

Groups for next summer’s tournament in Brazil due to be selected on Friday afternoon

Fifa president Sepp Blatter attends a press conference following a meeting of the organising committee for the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil today. Photograph: Marcus Brandt/EPA
Fifa president Sepp Blatter attends a press conference following a meeting of the organising committee for the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil today. Photograph: Marcus Brandt/EPA

Fifa have revealed the format of the World Cup 2014 draw due to take place on Friday afternoon.

The format will see eight seeded nations kept apart, as well as the five South American sides, while there will be no more than two European teams in any group of four countries.

The structure means England, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and France are among the unseeded teams in Pot Four.

The countries in Pot Two are the unseeded South American countries and the qualifiers from Africa: Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Ghana and Nigeria.

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Pot Three is made up of the teams from Asia and and north and central America: Australia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, USA.

Prior to the draw one of the European teams from Pot Four will be randomly selected to bring the number of teams in Pot Two to eight. This team will definitely face one of the seeded South American teams from Pot One.

Pot 1 (top eight seeds): Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay

Pot 2: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ecuador

Pot 3: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras

Pot 4: Bosnia, Croatia, England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, France