England to face France at Euro Championship

England have been drawn against France, Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine in Group D at next summer’s European Championship.

Republic of Ireland face a far tougher task in Group C with matches against world and European champions Spain, Italy and Croatia.

In Group A, co-hosts Poland play Greece in the opening game, and also face Russia and the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, in Group B, World Cup runners-up Netherlands take on Denmark, Germany and Portugal.

The Euro 2012 tournament will begin on June 8 in Warsaw (Poland), with the final being played on 1 July in Kiev (Ukraine).

England manager Fabio Capello said he was pleased to have avoided some of the bigger names in the tournament as England return to Europe’s top table for the first time in eight years, having failed to qualify for Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.

The Italian, who confirmed this week that he would leave his post after the tournament, added, “Group B is very difficult because Portugal, Germany and Holland are really tough.

“The best group was Group A, but we are happy with Group D. It’s a tough group but it’s better than Group B.

“More difficult will be the first game against France, because of the pressure and the importance of the result.”

Croatia boss Slaven Bilic said the draw underlined how competitive the European Championship is.

“It is the cruellest sports championship,” he said. “You can’t get easy opponents. Of course we have a tough group. We are privileged we are playing against the world champions (Spain), former world champions (Italy) and against the Republic of Ireland.”