MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia were named on Friday as one of the four seeds for November's playoffs to determine the last four European teams to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The latest FIFA rankings, on which the seedings are based, were published on Friday and saw Russia drop from sixth place to 12th following a 1-0 home defeat to Germany last Saturday and a 1-1 draw away to minnows Azerbaijan on Wednesday evening.
The teams in the playoffs are the best eight second-placed teams from the nine European qualifying groups. Russia finished runners-up to Germany in Group 4.
The other seeds are France, Portugal and Greece.
The unseeded teams, one of which Russia will face in a two-legged tie on November 14 and 18, are Ukraine, Slovenia, Bosnia and the Republic of Ireland.
The draw takes place in Zurich on Monday at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time [noon GMT].
