The draw for the Euro 2016 qualifying groups will take place on Sunday with Netherlands sitting in pot one.

  • By Michael Bell
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Netherlands aAfter this summers World Cup, preparation will then begin for Euro 2016, with Guus Hiddink coming in to take over from Louis van Gaal as national team coach.

On Sunday the draw for the qualifying groups will take place, with Hiddink finding out who will stand in the Netherlands way of reaching the tournament in France.

Netherlands are in Pot 1 of 6, and will avoid big names such as Spain, England, Germany, and Italy, but could be drawn with the likes of Belgium, and Switzerland, who find themselves in pot two.

The top two from each group will automatically qualify, along with the best 3rd placed nation. The remaining eight 3rd place nations will then go into play-offs.

Host nation France will be placed among the group that only has five nations, as 5 pots contain nine nations, with one only eight, but cannot be drawn with Netherlands, England, Italy, Germany or Spain for television right reasons. The results of France will not count, as they are already automatically qualified.

For political reasons, Spain cannot be drawn with Gibraltar, while Azerbaijan and Armenia will also be kept apart for the same reason.

The pots are as follows:

Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Pot 2: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland.

Pot 3: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland

Pot 4: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus

Pot 5: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, FYR Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus

Pot 6: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar

The draw takes place at 11.00am GMT.




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