World Cup draw seedings skewed by war, pandemic
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer
GENEVA (AP) — Next week’s World Cup draw will have some of its seedings skewed because of Russia’s war with Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. FIFA outlined the procedure for the draw in Qatar on April 1. Only 29 of the 32 teams in the draw will be known by then. The three remaining places will be decided in June. The 29 qualified teams will be put into four pots according to their FIFA ranking. FIFA created placeholder spots in Pot 4 for the three undecided entries. The teams affected could land in a tougher World Cup group than their ranking merits because they could not complete their games as originally scheduled.