The World Cup draw is today, and here are some things you should know about the event. It will all be televised on ESPN 2 starting at 11:00 AM Central time, with the actual draw beginning around 11:45 CT.
The 32 qualifiers are divided into four pots. One country is drawn from each pot to form eight groups of four countries each. After a round-robin Group Stage, the top two teams in each group advance to Round of 16 knockout stage.
Pot 1 consists of 8 seeded teams: Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain. No unseeded country has won the World Cup since Argentina in 1986.
Pot 2 consists of the three CONCACAF countries, the four Asian countries and the sole representative from Oceania (New Zealand). Pot 3 holds the five other African teams and the three other CONMEBOL teams. Pot 4 contains the remaining European countries.
**The first matches of the World Cup will be on June 11, 2010
* The 32 qualifiers have been divided into four pots.
Pot 1 (seeds): Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa (host country) and Spain
Pot 2 (CONCACAF, Asia, Oceania): Honduras, Mexico, United States, Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, New Zealand
Pot 3 (Africa, South America): Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
Pot 4 (Europe): Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland
- Beginning with Pot 1, countries will be drawn from each pot and placed in a group, in order from A to H. (South Africa is already assigned to A1).
- For Pots 2-4, after a country is drawn to a group, that country then draws a slot in that group (i.e. B2, B3 or B4), for scheduling purposes.
- The one exception is that no two teams from the same confederation will be placed in the same group (except European teams). South Africa cannot play the African teams from Pot 3 and the three South American teams in Pot 4 cannot be drawn against Argentina or Brazil. If that is set to happen, the country drawn will then be moved to the next available group.
