Chances even of familiar foe facing England

UEFA have announced their seedings for the draw and Roy Hodgson’s England side will be among the top seeds along with hosts France and holders Spain.

Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic will all be among the six countries in the pot of bottom seeds, based on UEFA’s co-efficient.

The draw will see the 24 finalists draw into six groups of four teams for next summer’s finals.

The winners and runners-up in each group will qualify for the knockout phase as well as the four best third-place sides – meaning that only eight teams will be eliminated in the group phase.

Wales were among the top seeds for the 2018 World Cup qualifying draw in July, but that was based on the FIFA rankings – Chris Coleman’s side are ranked much higher in that system than on UEFA’s coefficient.

The Euro 2016 seedings mean that England will also avoid other top seeds Belgium, Germany and Portugal, and the team to avoid among the second seeds is Italy.

The draw takes place on December 12 in Paris. The finals will start on Friday June 10, with the final taking place at Stade de France on Sunday July 10.

Sweden secured their place at Euro 2016 after Denmark fought back for a 2-2 draw in the play-off second leg in Copenhagen, but went out 4-3 on aggregate.

The visitors, who were 2-1 ahead from the first leg in Stockholm, looked to be in cruise control following a neat first-half finish from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

He added another on 76 minutes when he blasted a free-kick into the top-right corner.

However, Denmark produced a late rally with goals from Yussuf Poulsen (81) and Yannik Vestergaard, in stoppage time, but Sweden progressed.

Ukraine will complete the line-up in France next summer after they drew 1-1 with Slovenia in Maribor, which was enough for a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Slovenia, who were in England’s qualifying group, got off to the perfect start when captain Bostjan Cesar headed in from close range on 11 minutes.

However, the home side, trailing 2-0 from the first leg, could not find a crucial second goal and ended the match with 10 men following a straight red card for defender Miso Brecko.

Deep into stoppage time, Andriy Yarmolenko equalised from close range.