Ratings pots:

Pot 1 Spain, Netherlands
Pot 2 Germany, Italy, England, Russia
Pot 3 Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden
Pot 4 Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Ireland

… The names of each qualifier were placed in a replica of the tournament match ball and drawn by the former stars Marco van Basten (the Netherlands), Peter Schmeichel (Denmark), Horst Hrubesch (Germany) and Zinédine Zidane (France). And here are the results of the draw …

Group A Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
Group B Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal
Group C Spain, Italy, Ireland, Croatia
Group D Ukraine, Sweden, France, England

The tournament will expand to 24 nations in 2016, when it will be played in France.

In 2012, can Spain defend its title? Who are the other favorites? Germany? England? France? Italy?

The top dark horse? Russia? Portugal?

Which one of the four is the proverbial Group of Death? Or, for a bit of mirth, imagine the Group of Debt: Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal!