Socceroos given top seeding in 2010 WC qualifiers

The Socceroos will go into the 2010 World Cup qualifiers that begin next year as the top seeded team in Asia, following its exploits at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

The Socceroos will go into the 2010 World Cup qualifiers that begin next year as the top seeded team in Asia, following its exploits at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

As the best performed team at the 2006 finals from Asia, Australia is seeded one, with Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran rounding out the top five.

The remaining seeds are based on the qualification process from the World Cup qualifiers, with 43 teams entered for the 2010 qualification campaign.

Asia gets 4.5 berths to the 2010 World Cup, with the top four going through automatically, while a fifth team will play in a Intercontinental Play-off.

Click here for the full list of seedings and format of the qualifying process.

The top five seeds get a bye into the third round. Qualifying starts in October this year, followed by the second round in November.

Australia-s qualifying campaign will commence in February 2008, with six matches scheduled until September 2008. Round 3 will consist of five groups of four teams with the top two from each group advancing to the fourth and final qualifying round.

Round 4 will consist of two groups of five teams, commencing October 2008 and running through to September 2009. The top two from each group will advance to the 2010 World Cup finals, while the two third-placed teams in each group, will play-off for the right to play in the Intercontinental Play-off against the Oceania top ranked team.

The draw for Round 1 will take place on Monday August 6.