FIFA World Cup" Organising Committee
Top seeds for 2002 FIFA World Cup" Final Draw
Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Spain join Korea, Japan and France
The Organising Committee for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan", meeting on 28 November in the coastal city of Busan in Korea under the chairmanship of FIFA Vice President and UEFA President Lennart Johansson, decided to retain a virtually similar seeding system for the 2002 event as four years ago for France 1998 and put Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Spain as top seeds for the Final Draw on Saturday 1 December, together with the ex officio qualified teams of hosts Korea and Japan and titleholder France.
FIFA vice presidents join Japanese and South Korean officials at the opening ceremony for the World Cup host cities' promotion centre at the venue for the World Cup finals draw in Busan November 28, 2001. Photo Lee Jae-Won, Reuters
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In order to determine the seeded teams, sporting criteria were used (see separate information). Past FIFA World Cups™ (France 98, USA 94 and Italia 90) were weighted with the ratio 3:2:1 whereas the FIFA World Rankings from 2001, 2000 and 1999 were weighted 1:1:1.
Brazil topped the list with 62 points, followed by Argentina and Italy with 56, Germany with 54 and Spain with 45 points. Mexico with 42 points and England with 41 points came next but failed to make it among the top-seeded teams.
The Committee further decided to put the remaining 11 European teams into one pot (Pot 2). Out of this pot one European team will be drawn per group. For geographical reasons, the remaining three European representatives will then be drawn into groups with non-European top-seeded teams.
The remaining three contenders from South America and Asia’s two other representatives will be put into Pot 3 and drawn into the remaining five groups after Pot 2 has been emptied. It was decided that, for geographical and economical reasons, China would be allocated to a group in Korea whereas Saudi Arabia will play in Japan.
The five African teams and the three teams from CONCACAF will be drawn last with at least two African teams and one from CONCACAF playing in either Korea or Japan.
The Committee also confirmed that any yellow cards (single yellows or more than one yellow card in more than one game) will be cancelled for the FIFA World Cup™ final competition. However, any match suspensions still not yet served as a consequence of red cards will be carried over into the final competition.
Regarding financial matters, the FIFA Organising Committee approved a 1 million CHF contribution to cover the preparation costs the 32 teams will incur in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup™ but deferred the issue of FIFA's contribution to be paid per team and match to the meeting of the FIFA Finance Committee on 29 November.
The issue of security at next year’s FIFA World Cup™ was also on the agenda of this meeting. Furthermore the Committee heard reports on the recent inspection of stadia in the two host nations as well as updates on the ticketing aspect, the IT solution, and feedback from the world’s media. Representatives from JAWOC informed about the preparations for the seminar for participating countries, which will be held at the International Convention Centre PAMIR in Tokyo from 25 February to 1 March 2002. In addition, the Committee discussed the seminar for World Cup match officials, which will take place in Seoul on 20-23 March 2002.
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