Ireland face Italy

The Republic of Ireland will play Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers.

The Irish team, which is currently managerless, was seeded third in the draw and faces another difficult task to qualify for their first major finals since 2002.

Italy are the top seeds in Group 8 with Bulgaria second.

Once again Ireland face Cyprus, a team which all but killed our chances of reaching the Euro 2008 finals having lost 5-2 in Nicosia before being held to a 1-1 draw in Dublin.

Italy will be favoured to top the group and secure automatic qualification.  They will contest next summer's European finals having topped a group that also contained France and Scotland.

Georgia were also in that same group but finished second bottom, just 10 points ahead of the Faroe Islands having recorded just three wins in 12 games.

Bulgaria were one point shy of securing a Euro 2008 ticket having finished third behind Romania and the Netherlands.

From the end of the recent Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Montenegro have separated from Serbia as a united football association and will field their own team.  They are bottom seeds in the group.

Managerless England have been drawn against the side who knocked them out of Euro 2008 in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers after today's draw in Durban

Slaven Bilic's men ran out 3-2 winners at Wembley in midweek to seal England's fate and the teams will get the chance to renew acquaintances when the road to South Africa begins next autumn.

The other sides in Group Six are Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

Northern Ireland face tough tests against Czech Republic and Poland in Group Three.

Nigel Worthington's side, who narrowly missed out on qualification for the Euro 2008 finals last week, will also come up against Slovakia, Slovenia and San Marino.

Scotland will face Holland, Norway, FYR Macedonia and Iceland in their five-team group.

The Scots were placed in the smallest of the nine European groups, group nine. The other eight groups all feature six teams.

Alex McLeish's side agonisingly missed out on qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals, and Scotland's last appearance at a major summer tournament came at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Meanwhile, John Toshack's Wales have been pitted against World Cup 2006 semi-finalists Germany in Group Four.

They also face Russia - the other side who qualified for Euro 2008 ahead of England - as well as Finland, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein.

The Welsh are familiar with Finland, having faced them in Euro 2004 qualifying.

South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifying draw

Group 1:Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta

Group 2:Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg

Group 3:Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, San
Marino

Group 4:Germany, Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein

Group 5:Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia

Group 6:Croatia, England, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra

Group 7:France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands

Group 8:Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro

Group 9:Holland, Scotland, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland