With the World Cup still three years away, the qualifying hopes of many countries will be riding on tomorrow’s preliminary draw.

In a glitzy evening ceremony featuring balls drawn from glass bowls, organisers will set up the qualifying groups for Europe, Africa, Asia and North and Central America.

Smaller nations might get lucky with easy groups, while powerhouses like Germany could wind up with tough opposition in the two-year campaign to complete the 32-team field for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Only South Africa can watch with ease – as host nation, it has already qualified. Even defending champions Italy will have to play to reach the championship.

More than 3,000 people will fill the International Convention Centre close to the Indian Ocean beaches tomorrow, with organisers counting on a flawless show to kick off their World Cup buildup.

Among the guests will be South African President Thabo Mbeki, FIFA president Sepp Blatter and soccer giants such as France’s Marcel Desailly and Liberia’s George Weah. The draw will be shown in 170 nations and territories as 200 teams take part in qualifying – both records.

The South American and Oceania campaigns have already started and will not be included in tomorrow’s draw.

Most eyes will be on Europe, especially after four UEFA nations reached the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

England, who failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship after their 3-2 loss to Croatia on Wednesday, is likely to miss out on a top seeding in tomorrow’s draw.

England dropped one spot to 12th in the FIFA world rankings issued Friday, leaving the English 10th of the European teams.

The Europeans will be drawn into nine qualifying groups. Since FIFA uses the rankings to decide the seedings, England would miss out.

Europe get 13 places at the 2010 tournament. The nine group winners will qualify automatically, while the eight best runners-up will go into four playoff series.

The top seeds for Europe should be Italy, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Croatia and Greece, and those teams will all be drawn in separate groups. A final decision on the draw procedures will be made today.

Five African nations can qualify, with Nigeria and Cameroon looking to make up for missing out on the last World Cup.

In all, 48 African teams will be drawn into 12 groups, with the group winners and eight best runners-up advancing to the next round. Those 20 teams will then be drawn into five groups with the winners qualifying.

South Africa will participate in the competition only because it also serves as a qualifying event for the African Cup of Nations.

Asian qualifying is complicated. Australia is entering World Cup qualifying under the Asian umbrella for the first time and will only enter the competition in its third stage, along with South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iran, Kuwait and Indonesia. After three tiers of qualifying, the 10 best teams go into two groups, where the top two will qualify. A fifth team will have to play the winner of the Oceania group.

The North and Central American group also has a four-stage qualifying system.