Pele and Johan Cruyff are among the former greats who will make the draw for the 2006 World Cup on Friday.

Cruyff will be responsible for drawing the teams from Africa, South America and Australia, while Pele will draw the European teams.

Other players involved will be Roger Milla, who will decide which groups six of the eight top seeds will play in, and Lothar Matthaus who will draw the Asian teams plus the North and Central American countries.

FIFA said Argentinian legend Diego Maradona had turned down an invitation to attend the draw.

The draw, to be screend to 140 countries, will be hosted by German supermodel Heidi Klum, and is scheduled to begin at 9:20pm and end at 9.50 pm.

“It will be a gigantic show,” said Wolfgang Niersbach, the vice-president of the Organising Committee.

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