Hosts Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, Argentina, Spain, Mexico and England were named as the top eight seeds for next year's World Cup finals by FIFA on Tuesday.

Ghana have been placed in Pool Two. It also includes all five nations from Africa -- Angola, Ivory Coast, Togo and Tunisia -- along with Australia, Ecuador and Paraguay. Pot 3 is filled with European sides Croatia, the Netherlands, the Czechs, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

The decision was taken by the World Cup organizing committee and is based on world rankings over the past three years and performances in the two previous World Cups.

The draw for the 32-team finals takes place in Leipzig on Friday evening.

The top seeds will avoid each other during the opening stage, which will consist of eight groups of four nations playing in round-robin format.

The top two from each group will then progress to the last 16 and the straight knockout stages.

Under the seeding system used by world governing body FIFA, champions Brazil were top-rated with England emerging as second ranked.

Italy narrowly beat the U.S. into eighth spot with the Netherlands ranked next best.

Hosts Germany were automatically seeded.

They will take top slot in group A and play the opening match in Munich on June 9 as well as in Dortmund on June 14 and Berlin on June 20.

Brazil occupy top place in group F and cannot meet the Germans until the final, which would be a repeat of the 2002 final, if it were to happen.

The remaining 24 nations, with the exception of Serbia and Montenegro, have been placed into three further groupings.

Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the Ukraine make up a strong European pool who will be kept apart.

Serbia and Montengero, the lowest ranked team of the European qualifiers, is assigned to a special Pot X to ensure three European teams are not grouped together.

The draw in Leipzig's Neue Messe exhibition center will be broadcast live to around 150 countries with an estimated record audience of around 320 million people expected to tune in.

Below is the seedings:

Pool One: Germany (hosts), Brazil (champions), Italy, France, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, England

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

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

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

Special pot: Serbia & Montenegro

The full draw for the finals takes place in Leipzig on Friday. The finals start on June 9 and end on July 9, 2006.