Ghana, Nigeria among World Cup draw seeds

Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia were seeded Thursday for the World Cup Africa zone play-offs draw.

Egypt, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal and Ethiopia are the unseeded countries for the September 16 Cairo ceremony (1000GMT).

The seedings were decided by the FIFA Africa rankings released Thursday, with the five best-placed nations getting 'seeded' status.

Seeded and unseeded sides will be paired, creating five two-leg ties with a separate draw determining which country plays at home first.

Matches are scheduled for October 11-15 and November 15-19 and the five overall winners qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Cape Verde, who won Group B last Saturday, were disqualified for fielding ineligible defender Fernando Varela in an away win over Tunisia.

The 2-0 victory for the island nation was changed to a 3-0 defeat, giving four-time World Cup qualifiers Tunisia top place.

A Congo-Brazzaville appeal against the eligibility of Mali-born Niger striker Mahamane Cisse was rejected by FIFA.

Cisse scored in a 2-2 Group E draw against the Congolese last Saturday -- a result that allowed Burkina Faso to snatch top spot.

Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, shock Group A winners ahead of 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa, are the only contenders never to have reached the finals.