England set for seedings boost

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The World Cup qualifiers will be based on FIFA's world rankings, but, somewhat confusingly, the Euro 2008 seedings will be based on UEFA's coefficients which provide significantly different standings to FIFA's.

For 2010, England are currently ranked ninth by FIFA - and seventh in Europe - so they should be guaranteed a spot among the top seeds. For Euro 2008, if Steve McClaren's side are one of the 16 teams who qualify for the finals, they should have a good chance of avoiding the major European powerhouses in the group stage.

UEFA's executive committee, meeting in Istanbul, announced that the four top seeds for Euro 2008 will include hosts Austria and Switzerland and reigning European champions Greece, should, as seems certain, they qualify.

The other top seed is set to be Spain, the team with the highest UEFA co-efficient, which is worked out from results in the qualification tournaments for Euro 2008 and the last World Cup.

Based on current standings that would leave England, who have the second-highest UEFA coefficient, in a group of four second seeds along with the likes of Italy, France and Germany (or, if any of those fail to qualify, Portugal).

If Scotland qualify for Euro 2008 they are set to be in the group of four third seeds - their UEFA co-efficient places them 10th - while in the unlikely event of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland or Wales qualifying they would be among the four bottom seeds.

In the 2010 qualifying competition, Scotland, currently ranked 14th in the world by FIFA, would be among the nine second seeds while both Northern Ireland (ranked 36th in the world) and the Republic of Ireland (32nd) would be among the third seeds. Wales, ranked 53rd, should be among the fourth seeds.

The competition will see the nine group winners qualify for the finals in South Africa automatically, with the eight best runners-up playing off for the four remaining European spots.

The draw for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers takes place in Durban, South Africa, November 25, and the Euro 2008 final draw on December 2.