Eriksson's side ranked second behind Brazil




'So you mean we could play Holland, the USA, and Australia?' Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA.

England have been named as one of the top eight seeds for next summer's World Cup in Germany.
Hosts Germany, holders Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Spain and France were also seeded, which means that England will avoid playing any of these sides in the group stage of the competition.

"I've just heard the news and it's excellent," said England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. "I think it's right too. We are one of the teams that have the potential to do very well in Germany and we have some of the best players in the world.

"This is a big boost but, when the tournament starts, we must show on the pitch why we have been seeded," he added. "It's starting to get very exciting for everyone and I'm really looking forward to seeing who we are drawn to play against on Friday. There are many very good sides that are going to be in Germany but I don't think that too many will want to face England."
England actually came out second behind Brazil in the system used by Fifa to determine the seedings. The system looked at teams' record in the 2002 and 1998 finals as well as their world ranking over the last three years.

Under the seedings system, Brazil had 64 points followed by England (51), Spain (50), Germany (48), Mexico (47), France (46), Argentina (44) and Italy (44). The USA had 43 points and Holland 38.

Performances at the 2002 World Cup were given twice as much weight as at 1998, and the only surprise was that Fifa decided against using performances at the 1994 finals. That greatly helped England who did not qualify for 1994, but made the quarter-finals in Japan and Korea four years ago.

World Cup organising committee official Jim Brown said: "We decided just to use the past two World Cups because they are the only ones that have had 32 teams participating. In 1994, there were only 24 teams so using just the last two tournaments seemed to make sense."

Germany will be in Group A and Brazil in Group F, but the other sides will not know their groups until the actual draw on Friday. "Those two teams have been allocated to those groups as hosts and holders because we can guarantee them the larger facilities and the larger stadiums in the competition," added Brown.

The rest of the teams will be drawn on a geographical basis so that, for example, two African sides are not in the same group. The full draw for the finals takes place in Leipzig on Friday. The finals start on June 9 and end on July 9, 2006.

Meanwhile, Fifa confirmed the 23-man squads for the World Cup must be submitted by May 15 and no player will be allowed to appear for their clubs afterwards. The only exception is the Champions League final on May 17. It means World Cup players will not be allowed to take part in the Football League play-off matches if their clubs are involved in those games after May 15.

Fifa general secretary Urs Linsi said: "We do not want burnt-out players coming to the World Cup. They have to have sufficient time to recover and to prepare with their national team. The 23 players on the list will not be available for any other competition after May 15, apart from the Champions League final on May 17."