Soccer: FIFA hints Ireland for Group 2 in World Cup 2002

Ireland could be set to join a host of top teams in the 2nd group of seeds ahead of Saturday weeks draw for the World Cup Finals in Japan and Korea.

That’s if, as FIFA have broadly hinted, the same ranking system that was used for World Cup France ’98 is applied this time round.

Under the current system, competing nations are ranked according to their performances in the last 3 World Cups- as well as their current FIFA World ranking.

The final factor is geography, where the governing bodies attempt to minimise the number of countries from the same federations in each group.

Should Ireland be grouped among the 2nd seeds, a first round meeting with the likes of England and Portugal would be ruled out.

The draw takes place in Busan, South Korea on Saturday December 1st.