Italy, France And Holland To Meet In Euro 2008

[M|ch]

Italy and France have been placed together in the same group along with the Netherlands and Romania as the Euro 2008 draw was made in Lucerne on Sunday afternoon

There were fears from the major powers that they could be placed in the same pot, but there were gasps as Group C emerged as the one to watch in Austria and Switzerland next summer.

Both the Italians and the French had feared that they could be paired together after the seedings were made without their performance in last year's World Cup Finals being taken into account.

The incredible draw will see at least one of the favourites to win the tournament bow at the first hurdle and the French and the Italians have some scores to settle after their qualification meetings.

In the other groups, things are wide open as joint hosts Switzerland will do well to qualify ahead of either the Cezech Republic, Portugal or Turkey.

Germany maybe considered to be favourites in Group B, but Croatia have shown how strong they are in qualification, while Austria on home ground will be an unknown quantity and Poland could spring a surprise.

The Spanish have some familiar opponents as they played Greece and Russia in the first phase of the European Championships four years ago and met Sweden in the qualifiers for next year's tournament.

Switzerland will open the tournament on June 7 when they meet the Czech Republic in the St. Jakob-Park in Basel.

Group A
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey

Group B
Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland

Group C
Holland
Italy
Romania
France

Group D
Greece
Sweden
Spain
Russia