The pots for the upcoming World Cup draw were introduced in South Africa on Wednesday.

In a reversal from past draws, the seeds were based on the October FIFA World Rankings.

The seeded teams in Pot 1 are Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England and World Cup host South Africa.

Pot 2 includes teams from CONCACAF, Asia and Oceania. Those sides are Honduras, Mexico, United States, Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and New Zealand.

Africa and South American teams make up Pot 3. Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria represent the African nations in World Cup, while Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay advanced from South America.

The European qualifiers – Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland – will make up Pot 4.

During Friday’s draw, one team from each Pot will be drawn to form the eight groups for World Cup 2010. Each nation plays the other three from its group in the initial stages of the tournament.

The draw will be made to keep regional teams from facing each other in the Group stages, with an exception being made for Europe. This means South Africa cannot draw another African nation, and Brazil and Argentina cannot draw one of the South American teams.