Ireland will be a second seed

GIOVANNI Trapattoni’s final act as Republic of Ireland manager was to ensure a second seeding in the Euro 2016 draw in Nice on February 23. With France hosting the finals, the Republic have clung on to 18th position in the seedings ratified by UEFA chiefs yesterday — as predicted by Sportsmail — and have an outstanding chance of securing one of the 23 qualifying places. Being in Pot 2 means the Republic, ranked 67th in the world, will avoid Switzerland (eighth), Belgium (11th), Croatia (16th), Ukraine (18th), Denmark (25th), Sweden (26th), Czech Republic (28th) and Hungary (46th). Holders Spain are the headline act in Pot 1 alongside Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. For political reasons, Spain cannot be drawn against newcomers Gibraltar, while Azerbaijan and Armenia will also be kept apart. France will figure in one of the nine groups and while their games will be non-competitive, the FAI would expect a sell-out Aviva Stadium crowd were they drawn against Martin O’Neill’s Ireland. A third of all qualifiers will be played at weekends after UEFA rubber-stamped their new-look ‘Week of Football’ which will see games played between Thursday and Tuesdays. The 10 Euro 2016 qualifier dates are, 2014: September 7-9; October 9-11, October 12-14, November 1416; 2015: March 27-29, June 12-14, September 3-5, September 6-8, October 8-10 and October 11-13.