England have been confirmed among the top seeds for next year's World Cup finals.

It means the Three Lions will avoid teams like the World champions Italy, European champions Spain and Brazil in the group stage.

Fifa confirmed the seeding system on Wednesday, based on October’s world rankings. The draw will take place on Friday evening in Cape Town.

Pot 1: South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England

Pot 2: teams from Asia (Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea), North, Central American and Caribbean (Honduras, Mexico, USA) and Oceania (New Zealand)

Pot 3: teams from Africa (Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria) and South America (Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)

Pot 4: non-seeded European teams (Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland)