Soccer-Netherlands hold on to undesirable Euro 2008 top seeding

BERNE, Switzerland Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Netherlands have finished as the highest-ranked team in next month's Euro 2008 draw despite losing their final qualifier 2-1 in Belarus.

The Dutch could have been pipped to top spot on Wednesday if Germany had won their last qualifying match but Joachim Loew's team only managed a 0-0 draw at home to Wales.

The Netherlands have little cause to celebrate, however, because their achievement is likely to hand them a tougher route to the tournament's quarter-finals.

Marco van Basten's team will now go into the 'top pot' along with co-hosts Austria and Switzerland plus holders Greece.

Instead of having the chance to play the Austrians, Swiss or Greeks, the Dutch are guaranteed to meet a team from a far more dangerous-looking second pot, comprising world champions Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic and Sweden.

Croatia finished the qualifying tournament as the second-highest ranked team following their 3-2 win at Wembley on Wednesday that ended England's qualifying hopes.

Germany's draw with Wales sees them slip down to pot three alongside Romania, Portugal and Spain.

World Cup runners-up France will be seeded in the bottom pot after their 2-2 draw in Ukraine.

France are the biggest victims of a seeding system that only counts results obtained in the qualifying campaigns for Euro 2008 and the 2006 World Cup.

As a result, the French team's run to last year's World Cup final is not taken into account and they could find themselves in the same group as Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

Russia, who scraped into the tournament thanks to England's defeat and their own 1-0 win away to tiny Andorra, will also be in pot four along with Poland and Turkey.

Euro 2008 seedings for draw on Dec. 2 in Vienna:

Pot 1: Switzerland (hosts), Austria (hosts), Greece (holders), Netherlands

Pot 2: Croatia, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden

Pot 3: Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain

Pot 4: Poland, France, Turkey, Russia (Editing by Ken Ferris)