England were yesterday confirmed among the top seeds for the European section of Saturday's draw for qualification for the 2014 World Cup finals but they may yet face France, Sweden, Turkey or Russia in their group.
England have slipped to sixth in the Fifa world rankings but are still comfortably within Europe's top nine teams. The worst possible qualification group they could find themselves in would potentially be with France, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Finland and Wales – who are in the last seeded group and have a daunting task to qualify.
There will be 203 countries in the draw for the World Cup with 13 places – more than any other confederation – up for grabs among Europe's 53 teams.
Who England could face in qualifying
There are 203 teams in the World Cup draw. From Europe, 53 teams will be split into eight groups of six and one group of five. The nine group winners will qualify directly, and the eight best runners-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs to determine the final four slots.
Because they are ranked sixth in the world, England are in Pot A and so avoid the likes of fellow top seeds Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Portugal.
However, dangerous teams lurk in Pot B including France, Russia, Sweden and Turkey.
A best-case scenario group might look like this England, Slovenia, Belarus, Albania, Armenia, San Marino
A worst-case scenario group might look like this England, France, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Finland, Wales
Matches are scheduled to be played between 7 September 2012 and 15 October 2013
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