# Off-Topic Discussion > Sports >  World Cup 2010 (includes TV schedule during the WC)

## tammyy2j

France, World Cup winners in 1998 and finalists in 2006, missed out on a place in the eight top seeds for Friday's draw, announced by FIFA.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told a news conference the decision had been based on the world rankings and had no connection with the controversy over France's infamous "handball" goal against Ireland.

The top seeds are hosts South Africa, holders Italy, Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

If rankings had been used as the sole criterion France, ranked seventh, and Portugal would have been seeded at the expense of England and Argentina.

France are left as the most dangerous floating team who could be drawn in the same group as any one of the top eight seeds.

The draw for the finals, being staged in South Africa from June 11 to July 11, will be made in a 90-minute television spectacular starting at 17:00 UK time on Friday.

The 32 teams will be drawn into four groups of eight. Apart from the seeds, teams will be placed in pots which will largely avoid teams from the same continent meeting each other.

Pot 1 will comprise the eight top seeds with South Africa already sure to play in Group A and in the opening match at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium on June 11.

The second pot will comprise eight teams from Asia, North and Central America and Oceania - Australia, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, North Korea, South Korea and United States.

The third pot will be the five other African countries and three remaining South American nations - Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The final pot is made up of the eight remaining teams from Europe -- Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Valcke said there had been an agreement within the organising committee to base the seedings on the FIFA world rankings for October.

He said this had been done with the agreement of UEFA president Michel Platini of France who was very keen, for the sake of fairness, for it to be done when European teams had all played the same number of qualifying games.

Valcke said this agreement pre-dated the infamous play-off in Paris when France scored an equaliser against Ireland after Thierry Henry had blatantly handled before setting up the William Gallas goal which put France into the finals.

There had been some media speculation that France might be "punished" by FIFA after widespread protests at the result from Ireland and beyond.

The decision on how the seedings and pot grouping work means that the seeded teams would most fear being drawn into a group which included the United States from pot two, Ivory Coast from pot three and France from pot four.

The pots for Friday's World Cup draw to be hosted in Cape Town.

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa (group A), Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain

Pot 2: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Honduras, Mexico, USA, New Zealand

Pot 3: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland

One team from each pot will be drawn into the eight opening round groups for the tournament from June 11-July 11.

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## alan45

Lets hope for the sake of fairness France get knocked out in the First Round

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lizann (03-12-2009), Siobhan (03-12-2009)

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## Katy

yep me to, i hope they do. 

I need to pick a team to support, should be a good cometition.,

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## Perdita

I shall stick to my favourites Brazil, they always have my support  :Smile:

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## Katy

i was thinking Brazil but i gone off most the players since a few of them Joined man city and i cant stand Robinho! Im either thinking ARgentina, cause Tevez plays for them, or spain as thats where a couple of my cousins are from.

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## lizann

France not to win

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## Siobhan

> Lets hope for the sake of fairness France get knocked out in the First Round


I hope they are put in the German pool... My partner has promised revenge!! :Ninja:

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## Perdita

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland

I think revenge has to wait a bit, unless Portugal is on form. I don't think that France needs to worry about the other teams too much.

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## Siobhan

Ah crap... so I am danish, swiss or portugese next summer

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## Siobhan

Hang on.. that is not the results.. that is just the pots they are in now... draw is tomorrow.... all european teams are in same pot until drawn

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## alan45

What a fantastic match on at the moment. Ghana v Uruguay. TheGhanians are playing their socks off. It would be great to see the last African Team in the finals

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## Perdita

Yes, I agree, they are brilliant tonight

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## Katy

What a game it was last night, i was gutted for them. How he missed that pen in the last minute and fair play to him for stepping up first, that was so brave but not enough sadly.

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## Chloe O'brien

Another team given a thumping by Germany.  They have to be favourites to win it now.

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## Abbie

Holland are winning  :Big Grin:  Which is good, cos we have them to win in a sweep

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## Katy

A holland German final looks set to be on the cards! unless spain cause an upset but i cant see that happening. Should be interesting.

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## moonstorm

I think Spain stand a good chance??  Might be wrong but I think they will win.

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## Abbie

I think It would be good if spain win cos it will be more interesting than the obvious winning

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## Perdita

Spain won so it will be an very interesting final between Holland and Spain....Spain to win for me, as it is my adopted country  :Big Grin:

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## Chloe O'brien

Darn it. I wanted Germany to win.

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## moonstorm

The octopus is never wrong!  Did anyone see that on Sky News?  Aparently he is been correct on everything he has predicted so far.  Interesting to see who he picks for the final.  Sorry Chloe but glad Spain won.

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## tammyy2j

Sexiest World Cup Star 




Spain to win

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## Perdita

Paul, the octopus in a German zoo has so far correctly predicted all the results of the World Cup and he has predicted a win for Germany against Uruguay and for Spain to win against Holland.   :Big Grin:

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## lizann

I do hope Spain wins even though they havent played that well they still made it to the final it should be a close game

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## tammyy2j

Well done Spain

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## lizann

There was a few Dutch players that should have been red carded I'm happy Spain won

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## alan45

England have secured three new sponsors for their upcoming European Championship matches

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## Perdita

..

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## Perdita

Paul the octopus, an unlikely star of the 2010 World Cup who 'predicted' the outcome of seven matches, has died at an aquarium in Germany.

Staff at the Sea Life centre in Oberhausen said they were "devastated" to learn that he had passed away during the night.

Paul made his name by successfully choosing a mussel from one of two boxes bearing the flags of competing nations.

Octopuses rarely live beyond two years so his death was not unexpected.

Paul backs England World Cup bid Paul was two-and-a-half years old and had been hatched at another centre at Weymouth in England in 2008.

The centre's manager, Stefan Porwoll, said that Paul had correctly guessed the winner of all Germany's World Cup matches, including their defeat, and had "enthused people across every continent".

As the tournament progressed, the octopus's uncanny knack of selecting the correct box drew increasing interest from the world's media, culminating in his choice of Spain as the eventual winner.

He became an instant hero in Spain, prompting a request to have him put on display at Madrid zoo.

Amid the euphoria, he was even made an honorary citizen of a Spanish town before being made an ambassador for England's 2018 World Cup bid.

The Oberhausen centre said he had seemed fine when last checked on Monday night but was found dead on Tuesday morning.

The prophetic cephalopod's brief but extraordinary life is unlikely to be forgotten.

A documentary has been filmed and books and toys are already planned for the Christmas market. 

"It's a sad day. Paul was rather special but we managed to film Paul before he left this mortal earth," said his agent, Chris Davies.

A memorial is to be erected at the aquarium in his memory.


* Awww, RIP Paul*

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