Egypt's complaint against a special FIFA ranking issued on 8 June rejected by the world governing body
Egypt will not be among the top African seeds for Friday's 2018 World Cup qualifying draw after their complaint against a special FIFA ranking was rejected by the world governing body.
The Pharaohs were hoping the 8 June ranking would be alerted after FIFA said earlier this month they would look into their complaint.
However, they must now settle for a place in pot 2, meaning they will clash with one of the following top guns: Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal or Tunisia.
"The special ranking that was released on 8th June 2016 … fully served its essential and unique purpose of integrating all the official CAF AFCON qualifying matches that were played up to 5th June 2016 ahead of the draw," FIFA said in a letter to the African associations that will have representative teams in Friday's draw in Cairo.
"This ranking - 7th June 2016 - remains thus valid for the 3rd qualifying round draw."
The 20 African countries that made it to the final qualifying phase will be drawn into five groups with four teams in each group, with the group winners securing a place at the 2018 Russia finals.
Egypt have not reached world’s most prestigious football showpiece since making the last of their two appearances in 1990.
The seeding of the African teams according to the 8 June ranking
Pot 1:1-Algeria, 2-Ivory Coast, 3-Ghana, 4-Senegal and 5-Tunisia
Pot 2:6-Cap Verde, 7-Egypt, 8-DR Congo, 9-Nigeria and 10-Mali
Pot 3:11-Cameroon, 12-Morocco, 13-Guinea, 14-South Africa and 15-Congo
Pot 4:16-Uganda, 17-Burkina Faso, 18-Zambia, 19-Gabon, 20-Libya
