The Football Association have confirmed England will play five-time World Cup winners Brazil in a friendly in Qatar on Saturday, November 14.

The meeting, which will be the 23rd between the two countries, has been mooted for a while now but the FA have finally ironed out all the contractual details.

While some Premier League managers may have reservations about their star players embarking on a 14-hour round trip in the middle of the season, the FA have tried to offer some reassurance by pointing out England will not play on the Wednesday of a double-header created for World Cup play-offs, so all squad members will be back at their clubs earlier than normal.

The match at the 50,000-capacity Khalifa International Stadium in Doha will be a first visit to the Middle Eastern state for England and is payback for Brazil agreeing to be the first visitors to the new Wembley in 2007.

More importantly for coach Fabio Capello, it is an opportunity to assess his team against the side currently ranked number one in the world.

Capello will no doubt be hoping the likes of Kaka, Robinho and Daniel Alves will all be available to provide the stiffest test possible as the build-up to next summer's World Cup in South Africa continues.

Having faced Holland in August and both Spain and Germany away from home last season, a meeting with the Confederations Cup winners will be another tough challenge given England have only beaten Brazil three times in their history, the last occasion in March 1990 when Gary Lineker scored the only goal for Sir Bobby Robson's side.

It will represent the last chance Capello, who is due to name his squad for England's final two World Cup qualifiers against the Ukraine and Belarus - matches now academic following the Three Lions' confirmation of a place in South Africa - next Sunday, will have to assess his side at any length before next summer given their only other friendly is a midweek game in March.

England will play two additional matches before the World Cup begins, both of which will take place after the current campaign is over.

"To play a team like Brazil will be important for us," said Capello.

"We can understand more about ourselves and the level we must reach by playing the best teams.

"We have played Spain, Holland, Germany and France, some of the best teams in the world. In each of these games we have also played away from home, which is important before South Africa.

"One of the benefits of securing qualification against Croatia is that we can start to plan for the World Cup and this match is one part of our plans."

England have been confirmed among the top eight seeds for Friday's draw for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Reports had suggested that Fabio Capello's side were in danger of missing out on being a top seed, but those fears have proved to be unfounded.

However, 2006 finalists France, who secured their place at the tournament with a controversial play-off win over Republic of Ireland, are not one of the top seeds.

Fifa's World Cup organising committee used the world rankings from October to determine who would be in Pot 1, with England having been seventh in the standings at that time.

Joining England as top seeds for Friday's draw are hosts South Africa, current holders Italy and five-time winners Brazil.

European champions Spain, Holland, Germany and Argentina will also come out of Pot 1 for the first-round stage.

Also joining France in missing out on top billing are fellow play-off winners Portugal, with the European duo in Pot 4 alongside Denmark, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Pot 2 comprises teams from the Asian, Oceania and Concacaf federations, with Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Honduras, Mexico, USA and New Zealand those teams involved.

The remaining African nations - Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria - and Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay from South America will come out of Pot 3.