England Euro plans on hold

Thursday, 23, Feb 2006 09:18

England's Euro 2008 qualification calendar has been thrown into disarray after the other teams in their group failed to agree dates.

The fixture schedule for qualification for the European championships are usually set by the football associations of the countries involved.

England have agreed provisional dates for all of their qualifying matches but the rest of the group have failed to reach a compromise.

England have been drawn in group E with Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia, Macedonia and Andorra for the tournament to be held in Switzerland and Austria.

A Soho Square spokesman said: "The FA was able to agree all of our fixtures but, unfortunately, not all of the national associations of the other countries were able to agree among themselves.

"It is disappointing but it is sometimes difficult to agree a fixture list when there are such big groups."

The spokesman added: "We are going to ask Uefa to delay the drawing of lots for 24 hours, to try and find a resolution and if we can find a resolution then it won't go to a drawing of lots."

The FA hope to do a deal with Uefa which will allow negotiations to continue next week in Geneva, otherwise the European governing body will draw lots to allocate the schedule.