2010 Final Draw procedure approved

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Cape Town - The FIFA Organising Committee (OC) has approved the procedure for the 2010 Final Draw to be held in Cape Town on Friday.

The 32 teams which qualified to participate in the World Cup have been divided into eight groups and put into four pots, from which the schedule will be drawn during the live event.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said Pot 1 would consist of host South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England.

These teams will be automatically assigned position one each group, meaning that South Africa will placed number one in Group A, Brazil (Group B), Spain (Group C), Netherlands (Group D), Italy (Group E), Germany (Group F), Argentina (Group G) and England (Group H).

Pot 2 will be composed of teams from Asia, including Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic; North, Central America and the Caribbean, including Honduras, Mexico, the United States and Oceania which includes New Zealand.

Pot 3 will include teams from Africa, including Algeria, Cameroon, C"te d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria and South America, which includes Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Pot 4 will have the remaining European teams - Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Positions within Groups A to H will be drawn for teams from Pots 2 to 4 and no teams from the same Confederation will be in a same group, except for Europe which will have maximum of two teams in each group.

"Geographical criteria will also be respected, meaning that no two teams from the same confederation will be drawn in the same group (except European teams, where a maximum of two will be in a group), said Valcke, addressing reporters following the meeting of FIFA Organising Committee on Wednesday.

He explained that for example, South Africa cannot play the African teams from Pot 3 and Argentina and Brazil cannot be drawn against the three remaining South American teams.

Groups will be drawn from A to H and the positions in the group will be drawn for Pots 2 to 4

Local Organising Committee Chairman, Irvin Khoza told BuaNews that the draw was an indication that World Cup was just around the corner and it was time for South Africans to buy tickets and be ready to welcome the world next year.

"South Africans must come together and rally behind Bafana Bafana," said Khoza, adding that he was certain that the national team would reach the next stage of the tournament.