World Cup draw pots determined

FIFA have confirmed the allocation of the 32 nations competing at the World Cup into four pots ahead of Friday’s group stage draw.

The 32 competing nations, including hosts Brazil and defending champions Spain, will learn their group stage opponents on Friday afternoon at a ceremony at Costa do Sauipe, Bahia.

There will be eight groups, A to H, drawn for the competition, each with four nations, and these will be drawn from four separate pots which today the tournament and world game’s governing body FIFA have unveiled.

As previously known, the top seeds for the competition, based on FIFA World Rankings from October and including La Roja, make up Pot 1 for the draw.

These countries will be drawn first, one into each group and they will also automatically be allocated top spot in that group.

Then, Pots 2, 3 and 4 will be drawn in order and the final positions in each group – which determine order of play with opponents – will also be settled.

One novelty to the draw is that Pot 2 only holds seven countries to begin with, and Pot 4 holds nine – FIFA will hold a pre-draw to select one team from the nine European nations that make up Pot 4, to place them into Pot 2.

To maintain geographical balance to the draw, that European team entering Pot 2 will then be drawn into a group with one of Pot 1’s four South American teams. This will be determined through creation of a temporary Pot X – the remaining three nations not drawn against the European team from Pot 2 will return to the main draw.

All South American teams split between Pots 1 and 2 will also be kept apart.

World Cup 2014 draw pots

Pot 1: Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay

Pot 2: Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Nigeria

Pot 3: Australia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, USA

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

Tags FIFA Spain World Cup 2014
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