Republic tops but England second best

The Republic of Ireland have had their status as top seeds for Friday's draw of the group stages of the next European Championships confirmed by UEFA. Mick McCarthy's side have been rated sixth of the 50 competitors that will go into the hat writes, Emmet Malone.

The exact method for making the draw will only be decided by delegates to UEFA's congress in the city of Porto this week but it is expected that the procedure will, unlike the selection procedure for the World Cup finals groups, be a straightforward affair.

The Republic's achievement of making the top group of seeds is based on the team's success over the last two international qualifying tournaments.

UEFA's decision to use competitive results from just the past three years has meant that the ranking list produced looks a far more accurate reflection of current form than some of those that, in the past, have taken far longer periods of time into account.

Inevitably, though, not everybody will be happy with the list which, for instance, includes Germany and the Republic of Ireland amongst the top seeds while England are obliged to settle for a place in their second tier of competing nations.

Also going into the second pot is the Netherlands, whose ranking was based solely on their recent World Cup qualification campaign because of their role in hosting Euro 2000.

In the week in which he is expected to be named Scotland coach, Berti Vogts receives a significant bonus with the news that his new team will be amongst the leading 20 sides.

The Scottish Executive, meanwhile, has announced that it will take another week to consider its options before deciding on what support to provide to the proposed bid by Scotland to host the European Championship finals in 2008.

The level of commitment it makes to the bid will determine whether the Scottish FA need to involve the FAI in their campaign to host the championships. A final decision is now scheduled for this day week.

The PFAI has called for immediate talks with National League officials over the planned change of the playing season, which will involve summer soccer.

Leading officials within the players' union have expressed frustration at the lack of consultation that has taken place over the issue so far and insisted that there remain a number of issues that need to be addressed before the changeover starts to take place this summer.

Longford Town look to improve their recent improvement when they take on Shamrock Rovers at Tolka Park this evening for the first of the week's Eircom League Cup semi-finals.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UNDER-18 SQUAD (v France, Marseille, January 30th):

Simon Cox (Reading), Michael McGovern (Celtic), Kieran Sharkey (Belvedere), Killian Brennan (Peterborough United), Conor Kenna (Coventry City), Chris McGrath (Liverpool), Stephen Feeney (Sligo Rovers), Timmy Clancy (Belvedere), Glenn Whelan (Manchester City), Ian McGrane (Wolves), Darren Potter (Liverpool), Paul Keegan (Leeds United), Stephen Bradley (Arsenal), Barry Cogan (Millwall), Alan Kinsella (Leeds United), Stephen Elliott (Manchester City), Robbie Shields (Leeds United), Derek Donohue (Belvedere).