World Cup Finals Draw - Live

Tonight the draw for the finals of the World Cup will be made at the Messe in Leipzig, Germany.

Soccernet will be covering the draw live, bringing our readers a specially developed application so the event can be followed as it happens.

We'll be bringing you news and features from all our experts. When the draw takes place we'll be on the ball with all the reaction. And you will be able to join Press Pass host Derek Rae for a live WebChat right after the draw.

In addition, you will immediately be able to check up on all the fixtures and map out your favourite nation's passage to the final in Berlin.

The draw will be hosted by model Heidi Klum and television presenter Reinhold Beckmann.

• You can follow the draw live on Soccernet - launch the application.

It gets underway at 20:20 GMT (15.20 ET).

FIFA announced the seeds after a meeting of the Organising Committee on Tuesday, December 6. Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain will be in the top pool of teams and will occupy the first place in a group

Under the seedings system Brazil have 64 points followed by England (51), Spain (50), Germany (48), Mexico (47), France (46), Argentina (44) and Italy (44). The USA had 43 points and Holland 38.

Unlike in recent tournaments it will not be the holders who play the opening match. This time that honour will fall to the hosts and as such they have already been allocated to Group A. Germany are therefore team A1 and will take on A2 in Munich on June 9. Brazil have already been slotted into Group F and they will play their first match in Berlin on June 13.

The other three pots containing the 24 non-seeds have been sorted on a geographical basis. Each time a team is drawn out of a pot, another draw will be made to decide the position (ie, A2 to A4) in the allocated group.

The basic rule of the draw is that no two teams from one continent can be placed in the same group. However, there is an exception to this rule for European teams as, with 14 nations through, there must be two UEFA teams in six groups. This is the reason Serbia & Montenegro have been placed into a seperate group. By the nature of the draw, Serbia will be placed in a group with either Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

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DRAW POTS:

Pot One: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain

Pot Two: Australia, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia, Ecuador, Paraguay

Pot Three: Croatia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

Pot Four: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago, United States

Special pot: Serbia & Montenegro

HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK:

• The eight seeded teams will be drawn into eight different groups. Germany have already been allocated Group A and Brazil Group F.

• The eight unseeded European sides, in pot three, will be drawn.

• The lowest-ranked European side, Serbia and Montenegro, will be allocated to one of the groups containing either Brazil, Argentina or Mexico to ensure there is no more than two European sides in any group.

• The pot containing the five African countries, Australia and the two remaining South American sides, pot two, will be drawn.

• The pot containing the four Asian countries, the USA, Costa Rica and Trinidad, pot four, will be drawn.

Any thoughts? Then you can e-mail Dale Johnson.

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