The draw for Euro 2012 qualifying was announced today in Warsaw. The full draw is below and all seem pretty tough showing the strength of European soccer. Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, FYR Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia and Faroe Islands Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania and Luxembourg Group E: Holland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova and San Marino Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia and Malta Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus and Iceland Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein Tags Euro 2012 football

UEFA EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw (top seeds in bold) Group A: Germany , Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Group B: Russia , Slovakia, Eire, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra Group C: Italy , Serbia, N.Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands Group D: France , Romania, Bosnia-Hrzg., Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg Group E: Netherlands , Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, S an M arino Group F: Croatia , Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta Group G: England , Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro Group H: Portugal , Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland Group I: Spain , Czech Rep., Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein The nine group winners and best runner-up qualify automatically . The eight remaining second-place teams play-off to decide the final four qualifiers. Ties take place between September 2010 and November 2011. PALACE OF CULTURE & SCIENCE, WARSAW - Like Georgia & Russia, Armenia & Azerbaijan could not be drawn against each other for political reasons, so it was a humorous moment when Polish soccer legend Zbigniew Boniek kick-started the afternoon by drawing the Caucasian neighbours against each other. Boniek picked the teams along with compatriot Andrzek Szarmach and Ukrainian legends Oleg Blokhin and Andriy Shevchenko. Little stirred amongst the watching press pack and UEFA blazers until the final pot containing Europe's big guns was opened. Germany will renew acquaintances with two familiar countries it knocked out of Euro 2008 - Austria and Turke y. The clash with Turkey is sure to be hot one given the huge Anatolian expat presence in Germany; Belgium will hope to sneak in behind these neighbourly disputes as it seeks to become one of the major Euro pean footballing nations again, as it was in the 1980s. Group B's drawing provided the biggest sighs in the hall as all neutrals were p raying for a repeat of France against the Republic of Ireland. Russia were drawn instead and wil l be eager to bounce back after missing the boat for South Africa; Slovakia, the only World Cup qualifier among them, provide the m ain opposition to those two. Italy's Marcello Lippi chose to stay at h ome, leaving Angelo Petruzzi to answer questions, and Lippi will be pleasantly surprised, although World Cup qualifiers Serbia and Slovenia will provide real tests for the Azzurri awa y from home. France in reality got lucky with a kind draw: Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina are far from the worst teams they could have faced. Group E should be no trouble for the Netherlands, while Sweden and Hungary renew acquaintances after their mutually unsuccessful World Cup qualifying attempts. Sweden also have a Scandinavian border derby wi th Finland to look forward to. Euro 2004 winners Greece have an even chance of r eturning to the finals having been drawn into a balanced-looking group containing Croatia, Israel, Latvia and Georgia, while England will be confident of topping Group G ahead of Switzerland. Fabio Capello's men also have a mini return to the days of the Home Championship with Wales to play twice. Winning Group H looks tough for Portugal, who struggled in the World Cup qualifiers; Carlos Queiroz is surely hoping the local derbies between Denmark and Norway end in two ties. Finally, reigning champions Spain should have safe passage from Group I where the Czechs and the Scots will battle it out for second place. Europe's middle-ranking nations still provide the occasional shock such as Ukraine's quarter-final finish in the 2006 World Cup or Turkey's semi-final run at Euro 2008, but there do not seem to be enough sleeping giants to call any of the groups a group of death. As of now, the lineup for 2012 right now looks like being the cast of usual suspects. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

Here amid the palatial surroundings of the Palace of Culture and Science, a Stalinist skyscraper which towers over the Polish capital, UEFA President Michel Platini has just met the press ahead of tomorrow's UEFA 2012 Qualifying Draw . Platini's welcome to the tournament however w as slightly stained by repetitive questions from English journalists about the John Terry affair. Four separate reporters from football's homeland saw fit to probe him for his views on the matter, causing the UEFA President to eventually spout out, "Je m'en fous completement" - 'I really don't care!' The subtext to these interrogations was a similar case involving Platini in 1982. For the World Cup in Spain, midfielder Jean-Francois Larios had been picked for the French squad alongside his St Etienne teammate. Larios started France's opening 1-3 defeat to England, playing 73 minutes before being replaced by Jean Tigana, but was then promptly dropped by coach Michel Hidalgo after reports surfaced about an affair with Platini's wife. The resemblances to Terry's travails were too juicy a cherry for England's ta bloidy media to miss. But to tell the truth I felt embarrassed to be from the same country as them after they kept poking a man who was plainly was not going to take the bait. Expect Fabio Capello to be grilled on Terrygate rather than th e draw tomorrow. When the English tabloids choose to follow a story, they pursue it come what may. I can't stand Premier League press conferences where the clique of established hack s force their agenda through at the expense of a wider set of question s. Non Fleet Street reporters like me are frozen out with no time to ask what we want to: This is journalism rather than reporting. Today was supposed to be about Poland and the Ukraine's first chance to host a football tournament and the English hacks tried to make it about sex. I am on Platini's side: The football is just more interesting and i mpo rtant than the tittle-tattle. And I began to wonder whether this sort of dis-repecting the game contributes to England's wider lack of clout in global football politics. We are trying to p ersuade the world, or more specifically the 24 members of FIFA's Executive Committee , including a certain M.Platini, to back us for the 2018 World Cup, but our journalists are showing no respect to the FOOTBALL above all. "It's your problem in England," Platini finally said, half-exasperated. " I thought I had come here to talk about the Euros, not the problems of each country's media." Hear, hear. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

04/24/2007 Croatian FA to demand 3.5 million € from UEFA over loss of Euro 2012 Croatian FA chairman Vlatko Markovic says his organization will demand 2.5 to 3.5 million Euros in damages from UEFA after the joint Croatia/Hungary bid was rejected as host to stage the 2012 European championships. "We'll ask between 2.5 and 3.5 million because all of our projects were suspended during the campaign to organize Euro 2012," Markovic told the Jutarnji list daily. Markovic, who spoke to UEFA's chairman Michel Platini in Nyon over the issue, believes Croatia and Hungary were deceived in the Executive Committe's final vote last Wednesday that was won by Ukraine and Poland.

Poland and Ukraine will host the 2012 European Championships. Poland and Ukraine's joint bid beat out favorites Italy and the joint Croatia and Hungary bid. Despite a recent match-fixing scandal in Poland, 3rd favorites Poland and Ukraine's joint bid got the nod from UEFA in a major shock. The 2012 tournament will be played in four Ukrainian cities (Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev and Lviv) and among four of six possible Polish venues (Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Chorzow). Kiev's Olympic Stadium with a capacity of 80,000 will be the venue for the final.