Post by Taxigirl on Oct 11, 2005 8:38:53 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4326420.stm
By Julian Shea
England will go into Wednesday's final World Cup qualifier against Poland not knowing if the result will affect their World Cup seeding.
Poland are two points ahead of England and as both sides are already through, the result may prove to be meaningless.
But BBC Sport has been told no decision has been taken on whether final group places will affect tournament seeding.
In 2002 seedings were decided by teams' records at previous finals and their average place in the Fifa rankings.
"It will be decided by the organising committee of the World Cup 2006 on 6 December in Leipzig, where the draw takes place on 9 December," said Fifa media officer Nicolas Maingot.
The eight European group winners and the two best performing runners-up are guaranteed places in next summer's tournament in Germany.
Holland's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday ensured that whoever finished second in England's group would finish in one of those two runners-up places, meaning England are through regardless of Wednesday's result.
But fans hoping to watch England in Germany face a scramble for tickets.
Each team is officially entitled to just 8% of tickets for each game they play.
The Football Association will not know the exact number of tickets they will receive for each game until after the tournament draw takes place.
The only official way tickets will be made available to England fans for England games is through 'Englandfans', the official England Supporters' Club.
Membership of Englandfans has already been capped at 25,000 to give members a realistic chance of obtaining access to tickets, and no more applications to join will be accepted before or during the World Cup.
By Julian Shea
England will go into Wednesday's final World Cup qualifier against Poland not knowing if the result will affect their World Cup seeding.
Poland are two points ahead of England and as both sides are already through, the result may prove to be meaningless.
But BBC Sport has been told no decision has been taken on whether final group places will affect tournament seeding.
In 2002 seedings were decided by teams' records at previous finals and their average place in the Fifa rankings.
"It will be decided by the organising committee of the World Cup 2006 on 6 December in Leipzig, where the draw takes place on 9 December," said Fifa media officer Nicolas Maingot.
The eight European group winners and the two best performing runners-up are guaranteed places in next summer's tournament in Germany.
Holland's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday ensured that whoever finished second in England's group would finish in one of those two runners-up places, meaning England are through regardless of Wednesday's result.
But fans hoping to watch England in Germany face a scramble for tickets.
Each team is officially entitled to just 8% of tickets for each game they play.
The Football Association will not know the exact number of tickets they will receive for each game until after the tournament draw takes place.
The only official way tickets will be made available to England fans for England games is through 'Englandfans', the official England Supporters' Club.
Membership of Englandfans has already been capped at 25,000 to give members a realistic chance of obtaining access to tickets, and no more applications to join will be accepted before or during the World Cup.