23.02.2014 16:53 h

Football: England must justify favourites tag, says Hodgson

A kind draw on Sunday means England's path to the 2016 European Championship in France should not prove too rocky, although a meeting with Roy Hodgson's old team Switzerland will add intrigue to their campaign.

Hodgson took time out from his preparations for this year's World Cup finals in Brazil to attend the UEFA ceremony in Nice, France, on Sunday, and was delighted about the prospect of returning to some familiar territory when the qualifying campaign begins in September.

England, seeded first, were drawn with the Swiss, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and the minnows of San Marino in Group E, from which second place - possibly even third - will be enough for them to progress to the 24-team Euro 2016 finals.

Long before he was handed the chance to manage his home country, the now 66-year-old Hodgson travelled the world with his work, enjoying spells in the likes of Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Finland, as well as Switzerland, where he was coach of Neuchatel Xamax and Grasshoppers of Zurich either side of a spell in charge of the 'Nati'.

That saw him take them to the 1994 World Cup in the United States, and while he looks forward to returning to the Alpine nation, he knows that a side who are currently ranked sixth in the world by FIFA - nine places higher than England - will prove tricky opposition.

"We played against them fairly recently in the qualification for Euro 2012 (under Fabio Capello), so we had two matches against them recently, and of course I know the country well," said Hodgson, who charmed Swiss media while speaking in very capable French.

"I'm very happy to be in the same group as Switzerland. Even if they are a difficult opponent, it's going to be such a pleasure for me to bring an England team there and see so many old friends and re-visit the country, which I do on a fairly regular basis anyway, but it's always something that gives me great pleasure.

"We will have to justify our position if you like as favourites, albeit at the moment I believe Switzerland are ranked a little bit higher.

"When it comes to Slovenia, I know the country reasonably well from my time in Udine (with Udinese) where Slovenia is very close to the Italian border.

"Estonia and Lithuania I know both countries reasonably well too. So in terms of knowledge of the countries, we're quite well off."

England's campaign will begin with a trip to play Switzerland away on Monday, September 8, before the slightly less daunting prospect of an October double-header at home to whipping boys San Marino and away to Estonia.

They will go to Slovenia in June 2015 and will finish off their campaign with a trip to Lithuania in October next year.

Hodgson insisted that the standards in international football continue to increase to such an extent that England cannot afford to take any of their opponents lightly during qualifying, even if they will have far greater margin for error than in past campaigns.

However, he stated his wish that demands from television broadcasters will not undermine his team's prospects as UEFA introduce what they are calling the 'Week of Football' concept, which will see games played from Thursdays to Tuesdays during international weeks.

"The major problem for us with it is the obvious one - often before we get together with England, Sky Sports have their so-called 'Super Sunday' matches where often the very best teams are playing against each other.

"If they're going to be playing on Sunday and we're drawn to play on Thursday, then from a selfish point of view it won't be advantageous."