England's Euro 2008 qualifying fixtures: dates announced

<font size="2">England will start their Euro 2008 qualifyingcampaign at home to Andorra, which will be their first competitivefixture in the new Wembley Stadium.</font>

<font size="2">A second attempt to arrange the Group E fixtures provedsuccessful after the Football Association chaired talks between theseven countries.</font></p>

<font size="2">FA executive director David Davies said: &quot;It was never going to be easy but it was worth having a second go.</font></p>

<font size="2">&quot;It's a balanced schedule which gives us a strong chance of qualification.&quot;</font></p>

<font size="2">Davies added: &quot;We are very pleased with the result. Wewere asked to chair the meeting and we have been able to come to anagreement.</font></p>

<font size="2">&quot;We believe England will have the sort of qualifying campaign we would have wished for in terms of fixtures.&quot;</font></p>

<font size="2">After facing Andorra at home they face back-to-back ties against Macedonia.</font></p>

<font size="2">England, under Sven-Goran Eriksson's replacement, willthen face their two toughest matches in the group - trips to Croatia,in October, and Israel in March 2007.</font></p>

<font size="2">The result of the talks in Switzerland means the finalqualifier of the 2006/07 season will be away to Andorra before a tripto Estonia after the end of the domestic campaign.</font></p>

<font size="2">England will then play three consecutive games at home against Israel, Russia and Estonia.</font></p>

<font size="2">Russia, who were reported to be the major stumbling block during the last round of fixture talks, will then host England.</font></p>

<font size="2">England's campaign will be completed with a home tie against Zlatko Kranjcar's Croatia.
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<font size="2">2 Sep 2006: Andorra ( H)
6 Sep: Macedonia (A)
7 Oct: Macedonia ( H)
11 Oct: Croatia (A)
24 Mar 2007: Israel (A)
28 Mar: Andorra (A)
6 Jun: Estonia (A)
8 Sep: Israel ( H)
12 Sep: Russia ( H)
13 Oct: Estonia ( H)
17 Oct: Russia (A)
21 Nov: Croatia ( H) </font>
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