THE draw has been made for the Euro 2012 Championships in Warsaw and Wales has been placed in Group G.

The countries they will face are:

England
Switzerland
Bulgaria
Wales
Montenegro

The qualifying matches will begin in September 2010. A meeting will be held shortly with all the teams to discuss fixtures.

Wales has met all the countries in the group before, though no meetings in championship matches have been held against Montenegro. The only meeting was a friendly in Podgoricia, that hosts won 2-1.

Wales and Bulgaria have met six times, the last a 1-0 friendly win for Wales in Burgas in 2007.

Wales and Switzerland have met five times, the last being a 2-0 victory for Switzerland in the European Championships in 1999 in Wrexham.

The matches between England and Wales will need no introduction. The two teams have met on 99 occasions, the last being at the Millennium Stadium in 2005 when England won 1-0 in the World Cup qualifiers.

Group G is one of the three groups that only feature five sides. This will certainly be an advantage with less qualifying matches to play during the 18 months of matches.

Matches are scheduled to be played around selected 'double-header' dates. Matches can be played on a Friday or Saturday, plus the following Tuesday for the second match of the double header.

With only eight qualifying matches to be played by each side in this group, there may not be the need for too many double header fixtures.

Wales manager John Toshack, said: "Without doubt, drawing England will please all the Welsh fans - plenty of history there and we like nothing better than another chance against the old enemy!

"We have had recent experience against both Bulgaria and Montenegro, and Switzerland are a good mid-ranking European side. In truth, there will be little between ourselves and those other two sides.

"I imagine that all three sides would feel that second place is possible, it will be up to us to try and go one better than that.

"I know Fabio Capello quite well, so will look forward to being able to pit our talents against a powerful England team later in the year.

"I think it will be an advantage to us to be in a group with only five teams rather than six. It means we will have less travelling and it will be possible to not play so many double-header games.

"Also, we do not have any far away fixtures such as we have had last time with Russia and Azerbaijan.

"All-in-all, a very interesting draw."

Ceri Stennett
New Media & Match Press Officer
Football Association of Wales