ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

FIFA sets World Cup draw seedings with updated rankings

Share
DOHA, Qatar -

The United States received a boost for the World Cup draw and Canada took a hit in Thursday's .

The Americans, who failed to qualify for the last World Cup, will be in Pot 2 after being ranked 15th in the world.

Canada, which won the North American qualifying group and will play at the tournament for the first time in 36 years, missed a chance for a rankings boost by losing at Panama 1-0 in its final qualifier.

Instead, Canada will be among the lowest seeded teams in Pot 4.

The eight groups for the tournament in Qatar will be drawn Friday from four pots.

Qatar gets the top-seeded slot given to the World Cup host nation despite being ranked No. 51.

The other top-seeded teams are Brazil, Belgium, defending champion France, Argentina, England, Spain and Portugal.

Brazil took over as the No. 1 team from Belgium, the first change as the top in three years. Sixth-ranked Italy is the only team from the top 10 that failed to qualify.

Besides the United States, Pot 2 includes Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland and Croatia, while in Pot 3 it's Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea and Tunisia.

Three of the 32 entries are still unknown because qualifying hasn't been completed. Those three entries have all been placed in Pot 4 regardless of the rankings of the teams involved. No. 18 Wales is the highest-ranked of the eight teams left in the playoffs.

The rest of Pot 4 includes Cameroon Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Ghana along with Canada.

Teams from the same continent will be placed in different groups, except for some Europeans.

Europe has 13 teams in the tournament and five of the eight groups will each get two teams from the continent. The other three groups each get one European team.

Qatar will kick off its home World Cup in the opening game of Group A on Nov. 21. The final is scheduled for Dec. 18 -- the host's National Day.

------

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP--Sports

10:55ET 31-03-22

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

Stay Connected