The Dutch national football club is one of eight teams to be seeded in the 2010 World Cup, world football body Fifa confirmed on Wednesday.

The Netherlands joins hosts South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England in pool one for Friday’s draw. This means Oranje will not have to play against these teams in the group phase. The top two teams at the group phase progress into the knock-out rounds.
It had been thought that the Netherlands would be in pool two and France would be in the top team grouping. But in a break with the past, Fifa did not take the performance at the last two World Cups into account, giving the Netherlands the edge.