England are set to be among the top eight seeds for the 2006 World Cup in Germany after a double boost from FIFA. Sven Goran Eriksson's side are up two places to ninth in the latest World rankings following their qualifying victories against Austria and Poland.

FIFA has also confirmed them as the sixth best team at the 2002 World Cup, which would put England equal fifth in the seedings, provided FIFA uses the same formula it employed to seed teams for the World Cups in 1998 and 2002.

FIFA is yet to confirm the system it will use for seeding teams in the World Cup draw, which takes place in Leipzig on the 9th of December. Markus Siegler, FIFA's director of communications said this week: "There is no reason to think that the system will be different this time."

The top eight seeds will be kept apart in the group stages in next year's tournament in Germany. The seeded teams are likely to include the hosts Germany, as well as Brazil, Argentina, Italy and France.

The current system involves FIFA giving each team a score based both on their performances at the past three World Cups, where each team is given a ranking from one to 32, and their average world ranking during the past three years.

England have been boosted by FIFA's confirmation that Sven Goran Eriksson's side were sixth in 2002, where they were beaten in the quarter finals by the eventual champions Brazil. That revelation has boosted their World Cup coefficient by one point to 46, putting them level with Argentina and one point ahead of Italy and France. And crucially, it puts them three points ahead of the ninth placed Netherlands, who seem set to be the top ranked team to miss out on the top group of seeds under the FIFA system.

Ahead of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, England were eighth in the seeding list, but were pushed down the list because the two host nations were made top seeds.

World Cup top seeded teams as of the 19th of October*:

1 Brazil 64 points
2 Spain 49
3 Germany 48
4 Mexico 47
5= Argentina 46
5= ENGLAND 46
7= France 45
7= Italy 45
9 Holland 43
10 USA 41

(* Based on FIFA using the system employed to calculate seedings for 1998 and 2002 World Cups)

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