Seedings confirmed for Friday draw
Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland are among the top seeds after the group-stage draw pots were confirmed, with the draw to be streamed live from Costa do Sauipe on Friday.
Holders Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland will be among the top seeds after the pots for Friday's FIFA World Cup finals draw were confirmed.
There will be four pots for the draw, which will be streamed live from Costa do Sauipe at 17.00CET on Friday. The first seeding pot, previously revealed by FIFA, consists of hosts Brazil and the seven highest-placed qualified teams in the October FIFA World Ranking: Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay and Switzerland.
FIFA has now announced the make-up of the other three pots, which are formed on a regional basis. African and South American sides are in Pot 2, Asian and CONCACAF teams in Pot 3 and UEFA associations in Pot 4. However, with nine non-seeded European qualifiers (from a European total of 13), that leaves one too many teams in the UEFA pot, so one country will fill the 'spare' slot left by the seven-team Pot 2. That UEFA nation cannot then be in a group with two others from the same continent, meaning they will play one of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay – and not a European seed – from Pot 1.
Each of the eight groups in the draw will feature one side from each pot, with matches beginning in Sao Paulo on 12 June. The group stage, also played in Natal, Fortaleza, Manaus, Brasilia, Recife, Salvador, Cuiaba, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, and Belo Horizonte, runs until 26 June and two days later the knockout phase starts, with the top two from every section advancing. The final is at the Estádio do Maracană in Rio de Janeiro on 13 July.
Draw pots (October FIFA World Ranking)
Pot 1: Brazil (hosts, 11), Spain (holders, 1), Germany (2), Argentina (3), Colombia (4), Belgium (5), Uruguay (6), Switzerland (7)
Pot 2: Chile (12), Ivory Coast (17), Ecuador (22), Ghana (23), Algeria (32), Nigeria (33), Cameroon (59)
Pot 3: United States (13), Mexico (24), Costa Rica (31), Honduras (34), Japan (44), Iran (49), South Korea (56), Australia (57)
Pot 4: Netherlands (8), Italy (9), England (10), Portugal (14), Greece (15), Bosnia and Herzegovina (16), Croatia (18), Russia (19), France (21)
