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IRIB - FIFA has changed the
seedings of the top-five Asian teams for the preliminary draw of the 2010
world cup which takes place this month, the Asian Football Confederation
(AFC) said Sunday.
Australia retains top ranking, followed by Korea Republic, but I. R of Iran
has moved up from fifth to third seed, while Saudi Arabia and Japan will now
be joint fourth seeds, it said.
"The new seedings reflect the results of the teams in the 2006 FIFA world
cup in Germany," the AFC said.
The preliminary draw is to take place in Durban, South Africa, on November
25.
The Asian qualification campaign for the 2010 world cup is currently under
way with one round completed.
The AFC said that the top 11 seeds who cleared the first round have received
a direct bye into the third round, while the bottom eight seeds are engaged
in a home-and-away elimination round two.
Round three, which starts on February 6, 2008, will see eleven qualifiers
from round one and four qualifiers from round two join the top five seeds.
These 20 teams will be split into five groups of four, with the first and
second in each group qualifying for places in round four, the final round.
In the final round, the ten remaining teams will be split into two groups of
five, with the top two in each group qualifying automatically for the 2010
FIFA world cup finals in South Africa.
The previous seedings were: 1) Australia, 2) Korea Republic, 3) Saudi
Arabia, 4) Japan and 5) I.R. of Iran.
The new seedings are: 1) Australia, 2) Korea Republic, 3) I.R. of Iran, 4)
Saudi Arabia and Japan (tied fourth).
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