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Haenni and Valcke spotted their mistake before it was too late.

Fifa made a bit of a mess of the Women's World Cup draw

Awkward.

FIFA NARROWLY AVOIDED an embarrassing do-over of the draw for the 2015 Women’s World Cup on Saturday.

There was a brief moment of confusion when Colombia were drawn in Group E alongside Brazil despite a rule stipulating that two teams from the same conference cannot face each other in the group stages.

Neither Secretary General Jerome Valcke or Head of Women’s Football Tatjana Haenni spotted the mistake at first and moved to continue before Haenni called a halt.

“That’s true,” Valcke smiled. “We made a mistake.”

It took a moment to sort everything out before Colombia were correctly assigned to Group F where they will face France, England and Mexico.

(In case you’re wondering, the rule concerning teams from the same confederation does not apply to Europe.)

The World Cup takes place across six Canadian cities from 6 June-5 July.

Watch it here from 21:15 >

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2015 Fifa Women’s World Cup draw

Group A

  • Canada
  • China
  • New Zealand
  • Netherlands

Group B

  • Germany
  • Ivory Coast
  • Norway
  • Thailand

Group C

  • Japan
  • Switzerland
  • Cameroon
  • Ecuador

Group D

  • United States
  • Australia
  • Sweden
  • Nigeria

Group E

  • Brazil
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Costa Rica

Group F

  • France
  • England
  • Colombia
  • Mexico

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