Denmark

FIFA ranking: 16.

Form: It was a slightly erratic campaign for the Danes with early home defeats by both Italy and, more embarrassingly, Wales leaving them with ground to make up from early on.

Thanks to a remarkable 3-2 win in the return leg against Dino Zoff's team they made sure of their place in the play-offs and they are likely to go into the draw on a bit of a high.

Personnel: Bo Johansson probably would have departed but for the win in Naples. That victory saved his neck, however, and he is now joined by new assistant Michael Laudrup for the play-offs.

Within the team there is still plenty of experience with the likes of Peter Schmeichel, Thomas Helveg and Allan Nielsen.

Prospects: On their day the Danes can be pretty awful but it doesn't happen that often. On balance they're not one of the sides that Mick McCarthy will be hoping to draw on Wednesday.

England

FIFA ranking: 12.

Form: Not great really. Aside from home and away wins over Luxembourg England won one game in the qualifying group - the 3-1 defeat of Poland back in March. Against Sweden they looked second best both times while their inability to beat Bulgaria at home was little short of astonishing.

Personnel: Kevin Keegan's man management skills may be better than those of his predecessor but he has yet to prove that he has any clearer idea than Glenn Hoddle of what exactly his best side is. Central midfield in particular remains a problem although the return to form of Alan Shearer is timely.

Prospects: Keegan appears to feel they are good - having just had his team gifted a place in the finals he told journalists on Saturday that England are good enough to win the entire competition. The special nature of the rivalry with the Republic would make the games very hard to call but it wouldn't be easy.

Israel

FIFA ranking: 24.

Form: Israel's steady progress on the international scene has for some time now been based on their remarkably solid home performances. In fact, the narrow defeat in Tel Aviv by Spain last October came as quite a shock to the home crowd who hadn't seen their team lose in five years. On the road, though, their performances are rather like our own, unpredictable an generally unimpressive. Aside from the qualifying games, they beat Yugoslavia 2-0 in a friendly last December.

Personnel: Their best known player in these parts would be Celtic's Eyal Berkovic but Avi Nimni, Alon Mazrahi and Valid Badir have all shown themselves capable of finding the net and overall the team is one of the highest scoring in the competition.

Prospects: Will certainly pose a threat and would provide tricky opposition for the Irish even if McCarthy will find it hard to spot many more attractive alternatives.

Scotland

FIFA ranking: 28.

Form: Bananas, as ever. The Scots were a little unfortunate to find themselves in with a group of teams which, on paper, looked terribly weak but which have, in fact, been steadily making headway during the past few years. Still, the draw away to the Faroe Islands was humiliating, as was the manner in which they blew it in Prague. In the end two wins over one of the group's stronger sides, Bosnia Herzogovina saved Craig Brown's bacon.

Personnel: Brown has shown himself to be a pretty decent coach over the past few seasons but his squad's lack of real quality was shown up, as usual, in last year's World Cup finals. Some of the best players - Colin Hendry, Kevin Gallacher and Tommy Boyd - are getting on a bit and few of the newcomers have made their mark yet.

Prospects: For some reason they have an impressive record of making it through only to blow in on the big stage. This time, though, they would look to be one of the more attractive draws.

Slovenia

FIFA ranking: 52.

Form: The Slovenians managed only one point in their qualifying campaign for France '98 although interestingly enough from an Irish point of view that 3-3 draw was away to Croatia. They have, however, looked a very different side since Srecko Katanec took over as coach.

Slovenia's consistency in a weak Group Two, in which their only defeats before securing a play-off spot were to Norway, was very impressive.

Personnel: Katanec has turned what appears to be a fairly ordinary collection of players into a strong unit but his side would not have come as far as they have without the goals of Zlatko Zahovic, the "Slovenian Suker" who scored eight of their 12 goals.

Prospects: The Slovenians rely very heavily on one man for their goals and concede quite a few at the other end. Getting to this stage was quite an achievement, a place in the finals would be a stunning upset for any of the other seven nations.

Turkey

FIFA ranking: 34.

Form: The Turks will be kicking themselves for slipping up against Finland at home back in October of last year and Moldova a few weeks ago for a win in either game would have consigned their arch rivals Germany to the play-offs. Since the surprise defeat by the Finns Mustafa Denizli's team has been admirably consistent, making it through the rest of the group unbeaten and rounding off their campaign with Saturday's goalless draw in Germany.

Personnel: Denizli has a strong panel to select from but his key players include Hakan Sukur and Sergen Yalcin both of whom have played major roles in getting their side to this stage of the competition.

Prospects: Desperate to reach another major championships and improve on their showing at Euro '96, the Turks will be a major obstacle to any of the other sides hoping to make it through to the finals. The away leg, in particular, will be hard for their opponents for Istanbul's fans are not the most welcoming in the game.

Ukraine

FIFA ranking: 26

Form: In the end they have a bizarre goalkeeping error in the last minute of their game against the Russians to thank for their place in the play-offs but the Ukrainians were undefeated in a tough group and looked like qualifying automatically until the French finally got their act together.

Personnel: National coach Jozhef Szabo relies heavily on Dynamo Kiev players, current and past, in his team selections with Andrei Shevchenko the outstanding star of the show. He's far from being the only talent of note, though, and Alexandre Khatskevitch, Sergi Rebrov and Arsenal's recent signing Oleg Luzhnyi are all skilful players.

Prospects: Lost 3-1 over two legs to Croatia in the play-offs for France '98 but they are a strong side with bundles of talent. Solid at the back and fast up front, they look to be a good bet for qualification from a weaker play-off line-up than last time around.