Soccer authorities will announce the brackets for next year's World Cup on Friday, German time.

A drawing ceremony for the 32 World Cup finalists will be held in Leipzig, Germany, one of the 12 host cities for the 2006 soccer championship.

A Korea Football Association official said South Korea would not likely be named the top seed in its group, despite the country's dazzling semi-finals run in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

Accordingly, Korean partisans are hoping for the country's inclusion in a group that features only one nation from Europe, which boasts numerous soccer powerhouses.

The 32 finalists include 14 European teams, and at least six of the eight groups to be articulated in the draw will have two teams from the Continent.

The KFA official said South Korea's chances of advancing to the round of 16 would be greatly enhanced if it could avoid grappling with top-tier countries such as Brazil, England and Germany in the first round.

But he also suggested that it might be better for Team Korea to be grouped with a powerhouse, as it would force the squad to be "alert and thoroughly prepared."