Former Swiss national team player Stefan Chapuisat, with his "light" hand during the draw for the Euro 2008 qualifying tournament, placed the Ukraine national team in Group B, which can already traditionally be dubbed the "group of death"...
The Swiss city of Montreux, where the draw took place, turned out to be not too lucky for Oleh Blokhin's charges, who in the Euro 2008 qualifiers will play against the teams of Italy, France, Scotland, Georgia, Lithuania, and the clear underdog of our cheerful company - the Faroe Islands national team.
That is, out of seven teams, five are opponents of a very decent level, although a easy stroll to Lithuania is also not to be expected.
It should be noted that under the new regulations for holding the European championship, from each group the winners of the qualifying groups advance to the final part, as well as the teams that took second places. There will be no playoff matches anymore.
The qualifying tournament will begin in September 2006 and end in November 2007. The matches of the final tournament, which will be held in Switzerland and Austria, will take place in eight cities. In Switzerland, top-class football will be seen by Geneva, Basel, Bern, and Zurich. In Austria, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Klagenfurt will host the Euro forum games.
Group A Portugal Poland Serbia and Montenegro Belgium Finland Armenia Azerbaijan Kazakhstan
Group B France Italy UKRAINE Scotland Lithuania Georgia Faroe Islands
Group C Greece Turkey Norway Bosnia and Herzegovina Hungary Moldova Malta
Group D Czech Republic Germany Slovakia Ireland Wales Cyprus San Marino
Group E England Croatia Russia Israel Estonia Macedonia Andorra
Group F Sweden Spain Denmark Latvia Iceland Northern Ireland Liechtenstein
Group G Holland Romania Bulgaria Slovenia Albania Belarus Luxembourg