The Republic of Ireland were drawn alongside Bosnia & Herzegovina in the Euro 2016 playoffs this morning.
Martin O'Neill's men are away first, with the return meeting to be played at the Aviva Stadium.
The other standout of the four ties will see a Nordic derby between Sweden and 1992 champions Denmark.
Find out how the draw unfolded with Sports Mole's text updates below.
Morning all. So, it's a big day for the Republic of Ireland and seven other nations as the draw for the Euro 2016 playoffs take place. In years gone by a third-placed finish in qualifying would have ended a team's chances of reaching the main competition, but with UEFA having extended it a 24-country tournament this time around, a new avenue has opened up. Stick with us to find out who will be playing who, with the draw due to take place around 11.20am.
A lot of our focus is of course on the Republic of Ireland, who finished behind world champions Germany and Poland in Group D. Unfortunately for Martin O'Neill's men, they have found themselves in the unseeded pot for this draw, which makes it a little bit tougher for them to secure their spot in France.
So, which of those four seeded teams will be best for O'Neill and his assistant Roy Keane? You don't really want to be facing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sweden, while Ukraine and Bosnia also have some dangerous players. Hungary will also be tricky obviously, but the fact that they scored only 11 goals in 10 qualifiers could well give the Irish some hope.
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Elsewhere, there is also the high possibility of a Scandinavian derby. Sweden are seeded and could face either of their neighbours Denmark or Norway.
Talking of Sweden, remember when Ibrahimovic said last year's World Cup wouldn't be worth watching without him?! Well, here's what the big Swede had to say on the possibility of him not appearing at Euro 2016:
"I don't want to miss Euro 2016. For me it's unimaginable to see this tournament without me."
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY!
By the way, the first leg of these ties will be played on November 12/13/14 and the second leg on November 15/16/17.
As is always the case with these UEFA draws, you never quite know how long it will be until the draw takes place! However, I don't think it's going to be long. Right now we're watching memorable moments from previous playoffs, which have been running for 20 years now.
How's your French? Dominique Rocheteau, who won Euro 1984 with France, is now on stage and presumably discussing that victory with UEFA's main man Gianni Infantino.
Now we are being treated to some video montages of each of the eight countries involved in this draw. UEFA's official Twitter page did say that the draw was five minutes away, until that was 10 minutes ago!
Right, it's draw time! Stay tuned...
MATCH 1: Ukraine vs. Slovenia
MATCH 2: Sweden vs. Denmark
MATCH 3: Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Republic of Ireland
MATCH 4: Norway vs. Hungary
So, there you have it. It's a tricky tie for the Irish, who will be up against the likes of Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic and Asmir Begovic. Having said that, they are away first and providing that they can pick up a half decent result from that, you would expect the Aviva Stadium to be rocking for the return meeting.
Elsewhere, we did get that Nordic derby as Sweden take on the Danes, while Norway and Ukraine are perhaps the favourites to prosper against Hungary and Slovenia respectively.
And that is just about your lot from Nyon. Thanks for joining us this morning and until next time, goodbye.
Written by
Liam Apicella
Liam Apicella
