Ireland set for World Cup seeding boost in qualifiers

HAVING laboured as fourth seeds in the current Euro 2008 campaign, the Republic of Ireland are set to move up a rung in the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The World Cup qualifiers will be based on FIFA’s world rankings, but, somewhat confusingly, the Euro 2008 finals seedings will be based on UEFA’s coefficients which provide significantly different standings to FIFA’s.

UEFA’s executive committee, meeting in Istanbul yesterday, announced that the four top seeds for Euro 2008 will include hosts Austria and Switzerland and reigning European champions Greece, should, as seems certain, they qualify.