Euro 2024 draw: NI to face Danes and Finns with Republic in with Dutch and France

Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough is under pressure after a poor Nations League campaign but the manager will believe his side can qualify from their Euros 2024 group

Northern Ireland's Euro 2024 group opposition will include Denmark, Finland and Slovenia with the Republic of Ireland handed a tough draw as they face France and the Netherlands.

Ian Baraclough's NI side are in one of the six-team groups with Kazakhstan and San Marino also in Group H.

Stephen Kenny's Republic will also be up against Greece and Gibraltar.

Only top-two finishers will secure Northern Ireland and the Republic places in Germany.

The Republic's fixture schedule was finally confirmed on Monday and a day after Uefa told the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to "disregard" their original fixture list.

While the Republic will face a huge task against the 1988 winners, the Dutch, and the current world champions in France, Northern Ireland could not realistically have expected a more favourable draw given the current strength of European football.

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"It gives us a chance to spring a surprise," said Baraclough.

"As a pot five team, as we were for the qualifiers for Euro 2016, this group gives us a fighting chance to make a good fist of qualifying."

He added: "I think being in a group of six nations is good for us. It means we don't have to play friendlies and therefore every game is a qualifier and there's something on the game."

Denmark, who famously won the 1992 European Championship after being late replacements in the tournament for the former Yugoslavia, qualified for next month's World Cup in Qatar after topping a group which included runners-up Scotland, Israel and Austria.

An impressive Nations League campaign which saw Kasper Hjulmand's side pipped for top spot by Croatia in Group A1 as they twice beat world champions France, has resulted in the Danes moving up to 10th in the Fifa rankings.

As top seeds, Denmark will clearly be favourites to win Group H but Baraclough will surely feel that his team are capable of finishing ahead of seconds seeds Finland, who are world-ranked 56th - only three places ahead of Northern Ireland.

Baraclough's side's dismal Nations League saw them slip to fifth-seed status for Sunday's but their world ranking is four places ahead of Slovenia.

Kazakhstan are 113th in the Fifa ratings with San Marino right at the base of the world rankings in 211th spot.

Thierry Henry's obvious handball set up France's goal in November 2009 which ended their Republic's hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals

But while the Northern Ireland boss is upbeat following Sunday's draw, the Republic look to be facing a huge task in attempting to secure qualification as they face the might of France and the Netherlands.

"In order to finish in the top two we have to achieve something extraordinary and it has to be our ambition to do that," said Kenny.

"We've shown our capacity in games against Portugal home and away, Serbia, Scotland and Belgium so we can take encouragement from those performances when we go against France, Holland and Greece."

He added: "It is our big dream to get to the European Championship finals in Germany and that is what we are building for. The draw has been unkind to us but that's life, you have to take every challenge that is thrown at you. We have to make sure we are ready for the games and to pull off big results."

The Republic's draw will inevitably bring back memories of the infamous handball by Thierry Henry which secured France the goal which ended the Irish team's hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals.

The world champions achieved a routine qualification for the defence of their title in Qatar as they dominated a group that included a group that included Ukraine and Finland.

France's Nations League form wasn't impressive as lost both games against the Danes and also were beaten at home by Croatia but they will still represent a huge task for Stephen Kenny's inconsistent Republic side.

The Netherlands produced an impressive Nations League campaign as they conclusively topped a Group A4 which included the world's second ranked side, their neighbours Belgium, which came after they held off a strong challenge from Turkey to win their World Cup group as they booked a spot in Qatar.

Both Northern Ireland and the Republic will hope that a fall-back position of a possible play-off for a Euro 2024 spot could emerge after the completion of the groups if teams guaranteed at least a play-off by dint of the Nations League campaigns qualify automatically for Germany.