It is certainly nice to have the Euro competition to keep our appetite for international football in between World Cups, but it seems too early to be thinking about Euro 2012 when World Cup 2010 is still four months off.

Nonetheless, the Euro 2012 Qualifying Groups were announced Sunday in Warsaw, just a year and a half after Spain hoisted the trophy for Euro 2008 in Vienna.

The nations in the nine groups will contest home and away matches between September 2010 and October 2011.

Host nations Poland and Ukraine are automatically through to the finals, and the nine group winners will also advance. In addition, the runner-up with the best record in its pool will also reach the finals.

The final four spots will be decided in November 2011 when the remaining eight runners-up compete in a playoff.

As with any draw, not all groups are created equal. Let the debate begin on which countries face the easiest and toughest roads to Euro 2012.

GROUP A
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Germany
Kazakhstan
Turkey

GROUP B
Andorra
Armenia
Republic of Ireland
FYR Macedonia
Russia
Slovakia

GROUP C
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Italy
Northern Ireland
Serbia
Slovenia

GROUP D
Albania
Belarus
Bosnia-Herzegovina
France
Luxembourg
Romania

GROUP E
Finland
Hungary
Moldova
Netherlands
San Marino
Sweden

GROUP F
Croatia
Georgia
Greece
Israel
Latvia
Malta

GROUP G
Bulgaria
England
Montenegro
Switzerland
Wales

GROUP H
Cyprus
Denmark
Iceland
Norway
Portugal

GROUP I
Czech Republic
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Scotland
Spain