Portugal’s 1-0 win over Italy yesterday has allowed Croatia to be one of the seeded nations in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw…

Croatia have edged out Italy as a seeded team which means they will avoid other seeded nations in qualifying. The pots are decided using the July FIFA Ranking, which takes into account games played until July 5 and is released officially on July 9. The World Cup qualifying draw takes place in St Petersburg on July 25.

Pot 1: Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Romania, England, Wales, Portugal, Spain, Croatia

Pot 2: Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Iceland, Denmark, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Pot 3: Poland, Ukraine, Scotland, Hungary, Sweden, Albania, N Ireland, Serbia, Greece

Pot 4: Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Bulgaria, Faroe Islands, Montenegro, Estonia

Pot 5: Cyprus, Latvia, Armenia, Finland, Belarus, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Moldova

Pot 6: Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Georgia, Malta, San Marino, Andorra

photo credit: Drago Sopta / HNS