World Cup draw procedure approved

The Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup has approved the procedures for the Final Draw on Friday in Bahia.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Organising Committee, it was announced that the seeded teams have been selected on the basis of the October 2013 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, namely hosts Brazil (A1), together with Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland, and Uruguay in Pot 1.

Pot 2 contains Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, and Ecuador.

In Pot 3 are Australia, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, and the USA.

Pot 4: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, England, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Russia.

Final Draw Procedures
PRINCIPLES
1.Geographic Separation
•Teams of the same Qualification Zone cannot be drawn into the same Group

- Exception: Maximum of 2 European teams may populate any one Group

2.Order of Draw
•Pots emptied in order: 1 through 4
•Groups filled sequentially: A through H
- Exception: Groups may be skipped to maintain principle of geographic separation

3.Positioning of Teams
•Seeded teams → Teams from Pot 1 automatically assigned position “1” of Group into which they are drawn

- Brazil→assigned position 1 of Group A
• Non-seeded teams → Teams from Pots 2, 3 and 4 will have their positions

randomly drawn
PROCEDURES
1. In order to create an even flow to the draw as Pots 1-4 are emptied, we begin by drawing one ball from Pot 4(containing a European team) and placing it into Pot 2 to achieve an equal balance of eight teams in each pot

2. Pot 1 will then be emptied beginning with Brazil; teams will be allocated to position 1 of Groups A through H sequentially

3.With the addition of the European team to Pot 2, Pot 2 will contain teams from three different qualification zones. With teams from three zones in the same pot, we increase the risk of inadvertently violating the principle of geographic separation. In order to ensure we do not mistakenly end up with

three European teams in the same Group, the following mechanism will be implemented:

- The four seeded South American teams will be placed in an ancillary pot–Pot X

- One of the four teams will be drawn
- The Group of the South American which is drawn will determine the Group which the European team from Pot 2 will join

4. Pot 2 will then be emptied, beginning with the European ball

- The European team will join Group of South American team drawn from Pot X

- The remaining teams will be allocated to Groups A through H sequentially

- Note: Groups may be skipped to respect principle of geographic separation; e.g. Chile and Ecuador may not be drawn into Groups with seeded South American teams

5. Pots 3 and 4 will then be emptied in order
6. The positions within Groups A through H will be drawn for all teams of Pots 2, 3 and 4