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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

England may face France qualifier

Peter Crouch and Alou Diarra France and England are familiar foes

England could face France in the qualifying stages for the 2014 World Cup after the pots for Saturday's draw in Brazil were revealed.

Fabio Capello's side are among the top seeds, placed in pot one, but France are in pot two, along with the likes of Russia and Sweden.

Giovanni Trapattoni's Republic of Ireland are in pot three, with Scotland and Northern Ireland in pot four.

Wales are in pot six, alongside the likes of San Marino, Malta and Andorra.

Meanwhile, Fifa announced that the 2014 World Cup finals will start on 12 June and finish on 13 July.

The pot allocations are based on the Fifa world rankings, which were revealed on Wednesday. England dropped to sixth, down two places.

  • Pot One: England, Spain, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Greece
  • Pot Two: France, Montenegro, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia, Slovakia
  • Pot Three: Switzerland, Israel, Rep of Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary
  • Pot Four: N Ireland, Scotland, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Lithuania, Albania, Austria, Poland
  • Pot Five: Armenia, Finland, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Moldova, FYR Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands
  • Pot Six: Wales, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra, San Marino

The Welsh are now joint 112th with the Faroe Islands in the rankings but the Faroes have got the final place in pot five, sending Gary Speed's men into the bottom pot.

With 53 European countries entered in the World Cup qualifying draw, teams will be drawn in eight groups of six teams and one group of five.

Each group winner will automatically qualify for the finals in Brazil, and four places will also be available via play-offs, making up a 13-team European contingent.

In the qualifying process 203 teams will play an eventual 824 matches across the globe.

Pot one also contains world and European champions Spain, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway and Greece, with the remainder of pot two made up by Montenegro, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia and Slovakia.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter announced that a decision on whether to introduce goalline technology would be taken at next March's meeting in London of the International FA Board, the game's lawmakers.

If approved, any new system could be implemented at the 2014 finals.

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