ENGLAND will have a further hurdle to overcome in the World Cup finals after missing out on a valued top seeded place for the draw.

FIFA today confirmed that the eight seeded countries would be hosts Japan and South Korea, holders France, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy, with Spain claiming the final place ahead of England or Portugal.

That means Sven-Goran Eriksson's side will be drawn against one of the top seeds when the groups are decided on Saturday morning.

It is the second time in a week that England have missed out on a top seeding, having been told last Friday that they would be second seeds for the 2004 European Championship qualifiers.

On any criteria based solely on past World Cup performances, England were always destined to miss out on a top seeding.

Having reached the semi-final in 1990, they failed to qualify for the 1994 tournament and were knocked out in the second round three years ago.

Spain, meanwhile, have reached the knockout stages twice in the last three years and have just nudged ahead of England in FIFA's ranking system.

In Saturday's draw, therefore, Eriksson's side will hope to be grouped with either Japan or South Korea, while also facing one of the eight third seeds and eight fourth seeds.

FIFA will make sure that, apart from the 15 European countries taking part in the 32-team tournament, nations from the same continent are otherwise kept apart.

Eriksson will no doubt take a relaxed attitude to England's failure to gain a top seeding.

After all, he could argue that his side have beaten Germany 5-1 in Munich as well as topping their qualifying group and have also recently defeated Spain in a friendly.