England will be among an unseeded pot of European countries for Friday's draw for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, organisers have confirmed.
FIFA has announced the procedure of the draw and, as expected, the eight seeded teams who will be kept apart for the group stage have been chosen according to October's world rankings.
The draw will be organised so that there will be no more than two European teams in any group of four countries, and all the South American teams will be kept apart.
It means England will have to face one of the top seeds - hosts Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland - who are in Pot One.
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.
Pot Three is made up of the teams from Asia and and north and central America: Australia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and United States.
In Pot Four there are nine unseeded European teams: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, England, France, Greece, Italy, Holland, Portugal and Russia.
In order to make the number in each pot equal, at the start of the draw one of the nine European teams will be drawn into Pot Two, and will definitely face one of the seeded South American sides.
Meanwhile, FIFA president Sepp Blatter insisted he has the "utmost confidence" that Brazil's 12 stadiums will be ready in time - but at least two, Curitiba and Sao Paulo, will not be completed until February.
Blatter said at a news conference: "The problems we now face regarding the stadiums are so small we can close our eyes.
"But there is one sad fact and we deplore the loss of the two people who lost their lives last week and we are feeling sad with the families, but the stadium will be ready for the opening match (in Sao Paulo)."
FIFA also confirmed prize money for the tournament would increase by at least 33 per cent compared to the £248million handed out at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
World Cup Pots:
Pot 1: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Germany , Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay
Pot 2: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Ecuador (plus one currently in Pot 4)
Pot 3: Australia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, USA
Pot 4: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, England, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia (one team will be drawn into Pot 2)
Source: Newcastle United Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
