FIFA to make late call on seeded teams

The detailed criteria to determine the seeded teams for the Final Draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa will be confirmed at the next meeting of the Organising Committee for the World Cup in Cape Town on 2 December 2009.

An official announcement will be made at a press conference following the meeting, in what will be the most exciting weekend in the young history of South African soccer.

If the criteria to determine the seeded teams were to include, as in the past, the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, then it would be the October 2009 edition of this ranking which would be considered, and this for sporting reasons.

FIFA has decided that using the November 2009 edition of the rankings would create an uneven situation, specifically for the European zone, where the play-offs involving the eight best runners-up led to an imbalance in the number of qualification matches played between the teams.

The organisation has come under fire following a late call and introduced seeding to the Euro playoffs, when it looked like the 'bigger' soccer nations such as France, Germany and Portugal faced the prospect of possibly having to play against each other for a place in South Africa next year.

What will the outcome of this meeting be, hopefully it won't cloud what is a big moment for Africa!