The four highest-placed teams in Fifa’s rankings have had a pathway cleared to meet in the World Cup semi-finals after tennis-style seeding measures were introduced in the name of “ensuring competitive balance”.

Spain, Argentina, France and England – the top four in descending order – are to be split into different brackets in the 48-team finals tournament, with the aim of preventing Spain from facing Argentina, or England from playing France, before a possible final.

The bracketing will hold only if those teams win their groups next summer, and echo the placements awarded to tennis’s top seeds in grand slam tournament draws.

The seedings leave England and France in line each to play one of Spain and Argentina in the semi‑finals. Fifa said the pathways would be drawn randomly, meaning it would not necessarily be Spain (No 1) v France (No 3) and Argentina v England.

The group stage will comprise 12 groups of four teams. According to the seeding arrangements announced by Fifa on Tuesday, seeding will be split into four pots, with the three host countries – the US, Mexico and Canada – taking a spot in pot one.

From there the pots are decided by Fifa rankings, with the six as‑yet‑undecided victors of the Uefa and international playoffs in pot four.

This ranking system means the world’s top countries will not face each other in the group stage, and the new measure will keep the very best sides apart even further.

“To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi‑finals have been established,” Fifa said in a statement.

“This will ensure that, should they win their groups, the two highest-ranked teams will not meet before the final.”

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Quick GuideThe four pots for the World Cup drawShow

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, US, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European playoff teams, two intercontinental playoff teams.

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Fifa’s rules dictate that in principle no team should face another side from the same confederation in the group stage but that is impossible for European teams, with Uefa providing 16 sides. This creates the prospect that England could be drawn against Scotland, who have been placed in pot three, or alternatively Wales or Northern Ireland shouldthey come through the playoffs. No more than two European teams will be in any group.

One day after the draw, on 6 December, Fifa will announce the match schedule for the finals tournament. This will determine who plays where and at what time. According to Fifa, this process will be undertaken “to ensure the best possible conditions for all teams while, where possible, enabling fans all over the world to watch their teams play live across different time zones”.