France, the 1998 World Cup champion, may avoid higher-ranked soccer teams at next year’s tournament in Brazil after the sport’s governing body changed the way it organized tomorrow’s draw, irking some European squads.
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France had to beat Ukraine in a November playoff to make the tournament. Under the system used in the 2006 event, France would have been penalized for being the lowest-ranked European team and faced group-stage rivals from its continent and South America. Instead, France will be part of a preliminary draw among the nine unseeded European nations, all with the same chance to drop into the group with the strongest four opponents.
“My question is, what is the value of the FIFA ranking in that decision?” Bert van Oostveen, director of professional soccer for the Dutch governing body, told national broadcaster NOS after the Netherlands was put in the same pot even though it was eighth in FIFA’s October rankings. France was 21st.
The FIFA rules try to restrict teams from playing other squads from the same region in the opening round. Only Europe, which has the most qualifiers, can have two nations in the same group. The 2010 World Cup didn’t have the issue because there were eight ranked European teams, enough to fill their own selection pot.
This year, the Netherlands missed out on the relative safety of a top seeding because 11th-ranked Brazil took a slot as host nation. The Dutch, the 2010 runners-up, will join France and the other European teams in the selection to see which will be placed in Pot 2 alongside the five African qualifiers and two unseeded South Americans.
http://www.bloomberg.com
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