FAI await clarification on seeding criteria

The FAI was last night awaiting clarification from Uefa on their decision to dramatically alter their criteria for seeding nations ahead of next month's draw for the qualifying stages of the 2010 World Cup.

In a surprise move, the European ruling body announced yesterday the seedings would be based on Fifa's world ranking list rather than, as has been the case, co-efficients calculated from the results of all games played during the previous two qualifying competitions.

The decision was taken by the organisation's executive committee on which the FAI is not represented and the move has apparently come as a complete surprise to the association.

The change does not hugely alter Ireland's position with the Republic still on course to be a third seed, although the rankings are considerably more volatile than those obtained under the co-efficient system. Steve Staunton's side, for instance, rose four places in the European list last month to 21, or three off a second seeding. Scotland climbed six places, Bosnia-Herzegovina slumped by the same number, Wales rose five and Iceland bounded up nine to 37th place.

Under the system usually employed Scotland, who were fourth seeds when the draw was made for Euro 2008, would be in line to move into the third tier of nations in Durban. The changes announced yesterday, however, leave Alex McLeish's side very strongly placed to land a second seeding.

But there will be losers too and Uefa is likely to be on the receiving end of the flak from nations who now find poor results in friendly games that seemed at the time incapable of hindering a country's chances of qualifying for a major championship, are suddenly being held against them.

The retrospective nature of the decision is remarkable. Staunton, for instance, sought to use Ireland's games in the US to assess younger, less experienced players but he now finds he would have been better either to have pressured senior squad members into going on the trip in the hope of winning both games or, perhaps, skipping the friendlies entirely.

It has not been made clear which games will be the last to count for the purpose of the calculations. Since last year, when the system was revised in the wake of criticism, rankings are calculated on the basis of results obtained by teams in all A internationals during the past four years with allowances being made for the importance of the match and the strength of the opponents. More recent games also have more weight attached to them than those played towards the beginning of the four-year cycle.

Fifa have long sought to attach importance to the list, which carries the name of one if its largest commercial backers, Coca Cola, although it was not generally seen to have succeeded. Some associations have clauses in contracts with sponsors allowing for bonuses based on particular rankings being achieved while they have also been a factor when it comes to negotiating the financial terms for friendly fixtures.

The net effect of this move, however, will be to significantly raise the profile of the list although it may make managers and their employers more cautious about how they approach such games. Younger players may find less opportunities to win senior caps while games might be reclassified as B internationals.

Uefa also announced plans for the draw of the Euro 2008 finals tournament which is due to take place in Lucerne on December 2nd. In this instance, Greece will be top seeds in the event they qualify with the remaining nations, apart from the two hosts, ranked on the basis of their co-efficient from the last World Cup qualifying campaign and the one for next summer's championships in Switzerland and Austria.

World Cup seeds

How the draw in Durban on November 25th would look if they were done

today (based on ranking rather than coefficient) . . .

Pot 1: Italy, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, England, Croatia, Czech Republic.

Pot 2: Romania, Scotland, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Serbia, Russia.

Pot 3: Denmark, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Switzerland, Finland.

Pot 4: Slovakia, Wales, Hungary, Belgium, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus, Belarus, Slovenia, Albania.

Pot 5: Iceland, Moldova, Lithuania, Austria, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan.

Pot 6: Malta, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, San Marino.

u The draw will produce eight groups of six teams and one group of five. The nine group winners will qualify automatically while the eight best runners up will go forward to play-offs for four additional places at the finals.