England seeded for World Cup

England have been named as one of the eight top seeds for next summer's World Cup but France miss out.

FIFA's World Cup organising committee announced the seeds on Wednesday based on October's FIFA world rankings.

The host country South Africa plus Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany and Argentina were named as the other seeds.

There will be four pots in the draw - one containing the top seeds, pot two with countries from Asia, Oceania and north/central America, the third pot with the five other African nations and three South American countries, and a fourth pot containing the other eight European countries.

A worst-case scenario would see England drawn in a group with France or Portugal from the European pot, an Ivory Coast side boasting Didier Drogba and the USA, beaten finalists in the Confederations Cup last summer.

The best scenario would see England take on Slovenia, Algeria and North Korea.

Pot 1 (seeds) South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England.

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America) Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras.

Pot 3 (Africa and South America) Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay.

Pot 4 (Europe) France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia.