Italy draw Azerbaijan, Croatia, Norway, Bulgaria

Italy have drawn Croatia, Norway, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Malta in qualifying Group H for the 2016 European Championships.

The Azzurri will play each of these nations home and away between September 7-9, 2014 and October 11-13, 2015, in a bid to reach the competition proper come June 2016.

With the tournament finals being expanded for this edition to 24 competing countries, the top two teams from each group will automatically progress and will be joined by the best third-placed team, with remaining third-place nations entering a play-off round.

One of the top seeds in today’s draw in Nice, Cesare Prandelli’s outfit will notably face group stage opponents from Euro 2012, Croatia. La Nazionale also re-encounter Bulgaria and Malta, who they faced during qualification in the UEFA section for the 2014 World Cup.

Euro 2016 qualifying draw

Group A: Netherlands, Czech Republic, Turkey, Latvia, Iceland, Kazakhstan

Group B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, Israel, Wales, Cyprus, Andorra

Group C: Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus, FYR Macedonia, Luxembourg

Group D: Germany, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Georgia, Gibraltar

Group E: England, Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, San Marino

Group F: Greece, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands

Group G: Russia, Sweden, Austria, Montenegro, Moldova, Liechtenstein

Group H: Italy, Croatia, Norway, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Malta

Group I: Portugal, Denmark, Serbia, Armenia, Albania, France (friendlies only)

Tournament hosts France have been included in the draw, and will act as friendly opponents home and away to the nations drawn into Group I, but results against Les Bleus will not count in qualifying.

UEFA will schedule qualifying matches across a ‘Week of Football’. Rather than set nights of Friday and Tuesday for all games to be played, they will be spread across nights from Thursday to Tuesday, with nations set for two games across a particular round playing either Thursday/Sunday, Friday/Monday or Saturday/Tuesday.

ANN.Az