England will not be seeded for the World Cup draw in December despite moving up seven places to No 10 in the world rankings.
FIFA
is using the rankings released on Thursday to determine the seeds for
the tournament, with hosts Brazil and the top qualified teams sure to be
kept apart in the group stage.
Roy Hodgson's side will therefore be in pot two and will be drawn
into a group which includes one of Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina,
Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland and either Uruguay or the Netherlands
when the draw is made on 6 December.
Uruguay face a play-off against Jordan in November to confirm their
place in Brazil, but if they lose, their seeded place will be taken by
the Netherlands.
The new rankings have also confirmed which of the teams will be
seeded for the European play-off draw. Portugal, Greece, Croatia and
Ukraine will all be in pot one, with France, Sweden, Romania and Iceland
in pot two.
Scotland, who beat Croatia 2-0 in their final World Cup qualifier on
Tuesday, are the biggest climbers in the new rankings, jumping 28 places
to 35th.
Wales, who beat Macedonia last week before earning a creditable draw with Belgium on Tuesday, are up eight places to 44th.
The Republic of Ireland are down one place at 60th, with Northern Ireland down four at 90th.
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