Andy Potts 

Football: Russia will face Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra as they bid to qualify for the 2012 European Championships, to be held in Poland and Ukraine.

The draw, in which Russia were among the top group of seeds, proved relatively kind to the national side, with newly elected Russian Football Union president Sergei Fursenko optimistic about the team's chances.

"I think we got a very good, balanced group," he told journalists at Sunday's draw in Warsaw. "By and large I'm satisfied and I'm very sure Russian will come first in this group."

Trainer Guus Hiddink was also cautiously optimistic, adding: "We have a good group and it will be a competitive battle. We have no goal other than to finish first ... although we have to take into account the major progress Ireland and Slovakia have made in recent years."

Matches in the qualifying cycle are scheduled to start in September and the groups will finish in October 2011. The fixture schedule must be agreed by the countries in each group by March 9.

Group winners qualify automatically for the finals, along with the best runners-up. The remaining eight second-placed teams go into a two-legged play-off for the last four places in the finals.