A worldwide television audience of 320 million viewers is expected to watch the festivities from Leipzig, Germany, when FIFA, soccer's world governing body, divides the field into eight groups of four, thus determing the first-round matchups.
Friday's draw at Leipzig's Neue Messe exhibition centre, hosted by German supermodel Heidi Klum, will take place before 4,000 invited guests, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and soccer legends Pele, Johan Cruyff and Lothar Matthaus.
Earlier this week, FIFA named the top eight seeds for next summer's World Cup. Five-time and defending champion Brazil and hosts Germany were automatically seeded, while Argentina, England, France, Italy, Mexico and Spain took the other top spots.
England captain David Beckham will play in his third World Cup next year in Germany. (AP Photo)
Those eight teams cannot meet each other in the first round of the month-long tournament.
The draw is set up to prevent teams from the same continent landing in the same group. Europe, with 14 of the 32 teams, is the exception. But no more than two European teams will be paired in the same group.
FIFA based its seedings on results at the last two World Cups and the world rankings of the past three years.
Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will try to lead the Netherlands to its first World Cup title next year in Germany. (AP Photo)
With the top seeds already determined, Friday's draw will disperse the remaining 24 teams among the eight groups.
How the draw works
The 32 teams are divided into five pots:
The seeded teams from Pot #1 will be divided into eight different groups. Germany has already been allocated Group A and Brazil Group F.
Each of the European teams from Pot #3 will be drawn into one of the eight different groups headed by a top seed.
Serbia and Montenegro will go into one of the groups containing Brazil, Argentina or Mexico to ensure there are no more than two European teams in one group.
Each team in Pot #4, containing the four Asian countries, the U.S., Costa Rica and Trinidad, will be drawn into seven different groups.
Each team in Pot #2 of the five African countries, Australia and the two remaining South American teams will be drawn into eight different groups.
All eyes on the Netherlands
The nation that all eight top seeds will want to avoid drawing is the Netherlands.
Runners-up at the 1974 and 1978 World Cup, the Dutch are third in the current FIFA world rankings and were the best team in the European qualifying campaign.
The Netherlands went undefeated – 10 wins, two draws – to finish first in Group 1 ahead of the Czech Republic and Romania. Amazingly, the Dutch outscored their opponents 27-3.
Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, Bayern Munich forward Roy Makaay and Chelsea winger Arjen Robben give the Dutch plenty of attacking options, while van Nistelrooy's Manchester teammate Edwin van der Sar is regarded as one the best goalkeepers in the game.
"I really don't want to play against the Netherlands again," said striker Kevin Kuranyi, who played on the German team that tied 1-1 with the Netherlands during the opening round of Euro 2004.
Brazil is the odds-on favourite to win an unprecedented sixth World Cup title, but coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is leery of drawing a tough first-round opponent.
"We will hope that not-so-strong adversaries are drawn to Brazil's group," he said. "It would be good to avoid what happened to Argentina and France in 2002."
Four years ago, both Argentina (World Cup winners in 1978 and 1986) and defending champion France crashed out in the first round.
"We cannot allow that to happen again," said Argentine star Lionel Messi. "I am sure Argentina has a very strong team and the players have the will to win the title. We have a team that is really strong. We would like to avoid playing against one of those strong teams in the first round."
The 32 squads will compete in a round-robin with the top two teams in each of the eight groups advancing to next round. From there, the tournament changes over to a single-elimination format.
The World Cup kicks off on June 9 in Munich, with the final scheduled for Berlin on July 9.
with files from Associated Press
