FIFA To Reveal New World Cup Seeds For Africa

World football governing body FIFA have announced plans to release a new seeding for African countries ahead of the 2018 World Cup draws set for 24 June.

This was contained in a letter sent to the football federations of the 20 countries in the last stage of the qualifiers, and according to the football body the reason for the decision was following complaints from several of the teams.

“Following some complaints with regards to the fluctuation of the FIFA/Coca Cola ranking in the month of June and, with the aim of transparency, it was decided to proceed to establishing a special FIFA/Coca Cola ranking with a closer date close to the one fixed for the draw,” read the letter signed by FIFA Deputy Secretary-General Marco Villiger.

“Therefore, a special ranking will be established on 21st June, 2016 in order to distribute the qualified teams into different pots accordingly. Please note that you will receive a specific communication in this respect on 21st June, 2016, in which the confirmation of the pots for the 20 teams will be revealed.”

The previous ranking, which was done by FIFA last week, was met with complaints as some countries believed it should have been done with the June FIFA ranking.

Egypt were reportedly among the countries who complained about the seedings, which put them in Pot two along with Nigeria.They argued that they should be in Pot 1, which is reserved for the top seeds.

The 20 African countries that made it to the final qualifying phase will be drawn into five groups with four teams in each group, with the group winners securing a place at the 2018 Russia finals.

The qualifying series will begin in October 2016.