Soccer: There has been talk this week of "rebranding" the FAI, with the association's chief executive, Fran Rooney, insisting a great deal will change during the months ahead. Who knows where they'll start, but if it's with their slogan "We care about football", the simple addition of "but money matters too" might capture the new mood.

As he walked out of the vast conference hall where yesterday's draw for the 2006 World Cup was held, Rooney looked as though Christmas had just come early - for being drawn with France is worth several million euro to his organisation.

Not long afterwards, however, word arrived from the UAE that Brian Kerr was not quite so thrilled. "I would have liked to have avoided them," said the Ireland team manager after hearing a group line-up that includes not only the European Champions and 1998 World Cup winners but also the Swiss side which so recently put an end to the Dubliner's hopes of taking the Irish to a major championship at his first attempt.

While Kerr admitted taking on "one of the top-rated teams in the world" would be "difficult", the Swiss association's president, Ralph Zloczower, characterised Group Four - which also includes Israel, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands - as "a race for second place". Given the strength of the panel available to French manager Jacques Santini, it will take quite an improvement from their rivals if it is to turn out any other way.

Santini, needless to say, insisted the French would respect the Irish. "They are strong opponents," he said, "and our team will have to be at its best to beat them, but we are happy with the group. With the exception of Ireland and the Faroe Islands we know all of the teams well."

Kerr was clearly happy to be drawn in a six- rather than seven-nation group, but expressed caution too about the other sides, particularly the Swiss, who possess a young and improving squad.

"France will be a huge task for us and the Swiss have proven that they are a decent team by beating us twice. I think that being drawn against them again might provide a little bit of added motivation for players, but the main aim will be to get as many points on the board in order to qualify this time.

"Israel and Cyprus will be tough too, while even the Faroe Islands drew with Scotland and most of their games are only narrow defeats."

Kerr said he had not decided the order in which he would like to take the games, but in the context of income from television rights there will be pressure to have France at home as late as possible in the campaign. Kerr swiftly raised the issue of venue, insisting the demand to see the likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Bixente Lizarazu would be enormous.

"Where we play them will be crucial and I don't want it to be in Dublin with only 20,000 people watching."

The Israelis have recently been obliged to play their home internationals in Cyprus, but the association's president, Ishak Menachem, said he expects FIFA to allow games of this campaign to be played on Israeli soil. "We hope and are sure that this will be the case," he said. "I spoke to Mr (Sepp) Blatter yesterday and he said he expects it too."

Such a move would greatly enhance their chances of making a real impact, for after performing well in a couple of recent campaigns the Israelis finished a distant third behind France and Slovenia in the Euro 2004 preliminaries, points dropped in "home" games with France, Slovenia and Malta severely hampering them.

An improvement this time around would reduce the chances of the group producing one of the two best runners-up that will join the eight group winners in the finals. The other second-placed sides will play-off for a further three places at the tournament.

Ireland have never played Israel in a competitive game and have never played the Faroe Islands at all.

The rest, however, we've come to know well enough down the years. It is, in fact, the fifth time we have been drawn with the French at this stage of the World Cup, the last meetings, back in the 1982 campaign, each going the way of the home side.

That they meet again was clearly seen as a result in itself by Rooney. He had made no secret of the fact that, with the association's bank balance to consider, he had come to Frankfurt hoping to be handed a home game with one of Europe's heavy hitters.

On Thursday night, he said, he had reached agreement with a broadcast agent that, given the way the draw turned out, would be worth at least €3 million to the association. Depending on the timing of the games with France, he said, that figure could rise substantially.

"Getting France is great for us," he said. "It's very exciting and we'll look forward to renewing our rivalry with the Swiss. I think it's been a good draw for us and the fact that there is only the six teams now gives us the opportunity to play some friendlies and some flexibility when it comes to mapping out the fixtures in January."

England, meanwhile, were handed what should amount to a straightforward passage to the finals when they were drawn in Group Six along with Poland, Austria, Wales, Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan.