World Cup seeds named

The journey to the 2006 World Cup finals begins on Friday when the preliminary draw splits 157 teams from around the world into regional qualifying groups. On Thursday, Fifa announced Africa's qualifying pots for the draw to be held in Frankfurt, Germany.

After their appearance in the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia have been seeded and thus placed in pot A.

The remaining 25 teams were ranked in accordance with their Fifa ranking as of 19 November.

The thirty African nations will be split into five groups that will determine the continent's representatives at Germany 2006.

African teams will be drawn by Ghana's former African Footballer of the Year, Abedi Pele, and Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour.

The results of the qualifying matches will also serve as qualification for the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt.

The winner of each group qualifies for the World Cup and the first three in each group qualify for Egypt 2006.

Pool A: Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria, Tunisia

Pool B: Egypt, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali

Pool C: Algeria, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Kenya, Burkina Faso

Pool D: Ghana, Angola, Libya, Togo, Guinea

Pool E: Malawi, Uganda, Gabon, Sudan, Liberia