FIFA officially announced the pots for this week's World Cup draw as well as the prize money on the line in next summer's international football showcase. The draw itself, which will place the 32 teams into eight groups, is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6.

Iran is joined in Pot Three by all the other 3 Asian qualified teams Japan, South Korea &  Australia,  plus United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras, who are considered as lower tier teams in the tournament.Pot One contains top seeds Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and hosts Brazil.

Pot Two contains the five African teams and two South American teams,England are joined in Pot Four by Croatia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Russia, who are amongst the other unseeded European teams.One of the nine European teams in Pot 4 will be pre-drawn and transferred into Pot 2.The groups for next summer's World Cup will be made up of one team from each of the four pots. Pot 1 (top eight seeds): Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay Pot 2: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ecuador Pot 3: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras Pot 4: Bosnia, Croatia, England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, France  

Pot 1

National Team	FIFA Ranking
Brazil	10
Spain	1
Germany	2
Argentina	3
Colombia	4
Uruguay	6
Switzerland	8
Belgium	11

 

Pot 1 is comprised of host nation Brazil and the seven top-ranked teams from FIFA's October rankings. These will be the headline squads for each group, and those outside it will likely be rooting for a spot alongside Switzerland, or at least to avoid Brazil, Spain, Germany or Argentina.  

Pot 2

National Team	FIFA Ranking
Algeria	26
Cameroon	51
Ivory Coast	17
Ghana	24
Nigeria	36
Chile	15
Ecuador	23

 

At the outset, Pot 2 only has seven teams, made up of national teams from Africa and the South American squads not in Pot 1. Eventually, another European team will be drawn into this pot, but there will be a separate “Pot X” created to avoid three teams from UEFA ending up in the same group.  

Pot 3

National Team	FIFA Ranking
Australia	59
Iran	45
Japan	48
Korea Republic	54
Costa Rica	31
Honduras	41
Mexico	20
United States	14

FIFA

Pot 3 is straightforward. It's comprised of teams that qualified from the Asian and North American regions, which includes the United States and Mexico. Teams from this pot will need luck in order to avoid a very difficult draw.  

Pot 4

National Team	FIFA Ranking
Bosnia and Herzegovina	21
Croatia	16
England	13
France	19
Greece	12
Italy	7
Netherlands	9
Portugal	5
Russia	22

FIFA

Finally, the fourth pot is all of the remaining European teams. Since there are nine sides, it creates an imbalance that will get sorted out when one is drawn into Pot 2. But again, FIFA is going to immediately draw a South American team from "Pot X" and European team together to avoid three UEFA teams ending up together, as explained during the press conference.