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England among top Euro seeds

14/10/2005

England have been handed more good news today following their World Cup qualification after it was confirmed they are among the top seeds for Euro 2008.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side have been included in a pot that also contains top seeds and defending European champions Greece for the qualifying stages.

But they could yet be drawn in a group that includes Spain, Italy or Germany, who have all only been ranked among the second seeds.

Netherlands, Portugal, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic are the other top seeds and will be kept apart from England when the draw is made on January 27th in Switzerland.

Croatia, Turkey, Romania and Poland are the other second seeds, while the Republic of Ireland and Scotland are likely to face tough tasks to qualify after being named in the fourth pot.

There is a chance that England could again face Wales and Northern Ireland as they did in reaching next year's World Cup in Germany, as John Toshack and Lawrie Sanchez's sides are in pots five and six respectively.

Today's seedings were determined by a combination of performances in qualifying for the previous two major championships – Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006.

<b>Full Euro 2008 qualifying seedings:</b>

Pot One - Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, England, Czech Republic, France, Sweden

Pot Two – Germany, Croatia, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Spain, Romania

Pot Three – Serbia and Montenegro, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovakia

Pot Four - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Latvia, Israel, Scotland, Slovenia

Pot Five – Hungary, Finland, Estonia, Wales, Lithuania, Albania, Iceland

Pot Six – Georgia, Macedonia, Belarus, Armenia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Moldova

Pot Seven – Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Andorra, Malta, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, San Marino

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