England out of World Cup elite

England will miss out on a place among the elite group of eight seeds for next summer's World Cup Finals in Korea and Japan.

Germany, however, will be in the top rank despite their 5-1 defeat by England in Munich which helped condemn them to the play-offs.

FIFA's seeding system means that England could meet Germany again in the group stages, but cannot be drawn against Eriksson's native Sweden or the Republic of Ireland.

England's best-case scenario would be to land in a group with Japan, seeded as co-hosts, Poland and the United States, from which they would expect to emerge relatively unscathed. Equally, though, they could be in a pool with Argentina - their nemesis in Saint Etienne last time round - Turkey and Olympic champions Cameroon.

FIFA will confirm the seedings list next Wednesday, three days before the December 1 draw in Busan, South Korea.

Sportsmail can reveal, however, that the game's governing body has already drafted the criteria to be used by the World Cup Organising Committee, headed by UEFA president Lennart Johansson.

The 32 finalists will be seeded following a formula that takes into account the last three World Cup Finals and the FIFA world rankings.

That scheme leaves England seventh in the seedings, behind Brazil, Italy, Argentina, defending champions France, Germany and Spain. But with the co-hosts already nominated as seeds, England will miss out. Instead, Eriksson's team will be included in a second tier alongside the Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium and Russia.