Euro 2016 draw – as it happened

England and Wales were drawn together, with the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland both in difficult groups.

6.00pm GMT

That’s it for the Euro 2016 draw. Analysis from our experts Danny Taylor and Michael Cox will be on the site later this evening. Thanks for your company, I’ll leave you with this email from Adam Hirst. Night!

“England’s group could be wers.”

5.59pm GMT

If England win their group, and they should, they will play a third-placed team in the last 16 and then, potentially, Belgium, Italy or Portugal in the quarters. If they don’t lose on penalties in the quarters, they could meet Spain in the semis. This is all based on them winning their group and other results going as expected. Which they never do at a major tournament. So this entry is a complete waste of all our time. Sorry.

5.55pm GMT

Group A France, Romania, Albania, Switzerland.

Group B England, Russia, Wales, Slovakia.

5.54pm GMT

Group E Belgium, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Sweden.

That’s comfortably the hardest group. It’s still not a Group of Death, mind.

5.52pm GMT

Group D Spain, Turkey, Czech Republic, Croatia.

Croatia and Spain met at Euro 2012, of course.

5.51pm GMT

Group C Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Northern Ireland.

5.50pm GMT

Group B England, Russia, Wales, Slovakia.

Arise Sir Royston.

5.49pm GMT

Group A France, Romania, Albania, Switzerland.

5.47pm GMT

The last six teams are in pot 2. Italy are the ones to avoid. The other teams are Russia, Austria, Croatia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

5.47pm GMT

Group A France, Albania, Romania

Group B England, Wales, Slovakia

5.46pm GMT

Poland will be Northern Ireland’s first opponents, in Nice.

Nothing nice about that draw lol!
Meanwhile Sweden are in with Belgium and the Republic of Ireland.

5.44pm GMT

Poland are in with Germany and Northern Ireland. Oh dear.

5.44pm GMT

England and Wales are joined by Slovakia, and they will be Wales’ first opponents.

The opening match of the tournament will be France v Romania.

5.40pm GMT

Group A France, Albania

Group B England, Wales

5.40pm GMT

The Republic of Ireland are in with Belgium.

England will play Wales on a Thursday afternoon in Lens by the way, and their first game will be on a Saturday evening. No idea who it’ll be against, though.

5.37pm GMT

Northern Ireland are in with Germany, and will meet them in their opening game! They’ve had some famous wins over them in the past, most notably when they beat them home and away during the Euro 84 qualifiers.

5.36pm GMT

Wales are in with England!

Yep. That will be the second game for each team.

5.34pm GMT

Next out will be the bottom seeds, including Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

5.33pm GMT

The draw so far

Group A

5.31pm GMT

England are out of the hat first. An early statement of intent. That means they are in Group B, and will play in Marseille, Lens and Saint-Etienne.

5.29pm GMT

“Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Oh Scotland indeed. I blame UEFA. If they’d cut the number of teams in the finals to 8, we’d probably be one of them. Or maybe we wouldn’t. But anyway, good luck to England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Glipton Giants and all the other qualifiers. Have a great time in France.”

5.29pm GMT

Crikey, the draw is about to start. They’re only half an hour behind schedule!

5.28pm GMT

Can anyone stop this man’s team from going out on penalties in the quarter-finals?

5.25pm GMT

“I’ve read today that Wales and the Republic of Ireland both hope to avoid England because it would be too much of a distraction, with all the media attention,” says Phil Grey. “Maybe that’s been England’s problem for the last 50 years. Whoever they get, there will be too much media attention...”

5.23pm GMT

Ruud Gullit, who scored in the 1988 final and coined the phrase “sexy football” during Euro 96, is presenting the draw. He has four Very Important Flunkies: Antonin Panenka, Oliver Bierhoff, David Trezeguet and Angelos Charisteas, all scorers of a European Championship-winning goal.

5.16pm GMT

A second email “Super Victor looks like one of those terrifying giant marionettes in the Japanese manga animations, where innocent children morph into ghastly dream-like monsters,” says Charles Antaki. “Actually, that would liven things up rather nicely.”

Imagine it. “Today’s referee is from Twin Peaks, America, his name is Killer BOB.”

5.14pm GMT

An email “Like the 24 teams for Euro 2016, do you do the 24-hour shift for the Guardian?” asks Raymond Reardon. “ You were only doing the Aus v Windies cricket 10 hours ago. I suppose you have to make up the 4 hours due to Aussies finishing it off half way through the afternoon (your morning).”

It’s not just me. They keep 12 of us chained up in the Liveblogging Dungeon, with only out of date foie gras, contaminated Evian and an inexplicably comprehensive knowledge of Norwich’s 1988-89 season to sustain us.

5.10pm GMT

The inaugural European Championship was held in France 55 years ago, and here’s what happened.

4.58pm GMT

.@robsmyth0 Now I think about it, are you sure Michel Platini isn't inside that Super Victor suit?

4.54pm GMT

If you are an idiot, this guide is for you

So, this is how it works. Six groups of four, with the top two going through automatically. Then the four best third-placed teams also go through. It’s the same format that was used at the World Cup between 1986 and 1994, and means you can get through without winning a game – like Uruguay’s “scum of world football” in the Group of Death in 1986, or that Dutch rabble in 1990.

4.48pm GMT

The future’s yours but the past was mine

Get in the mood for Euro 2016 by taking a spin in the DeLorean. Here are some highlights of European Championship past:

4.46pm GMT

Introducing ... Super Victor

4.40pm GMT

Group of Death RIP (1980-2012)

It’s one of the best features of any international football tournament. A phenomenon that makes grown-ups – even supercentenarians – scrub their thighs with their palms in delirious excitement. The Group of Death. But one of the consequences of expanding the tournament to 24 teams is that now the worst you can really get a Group of Slightly Nagging But Essentially Manageable Anxiety.

1.21pm GMT

Hello. Bonjour. Hola. Ahoj. Ciao. Dia duit. Helo. Përshëndetje. Yeah right, like I’m doing that in all 24 languages. It would have been possible to greet you in the style of all the finalists before the inaugural tournament in 1960, because there were only four of them. It grew to eight in 1980, to 16 in 1996 and now to 24. For the first time there are three of the Home Nations in a European Championship, and the OH SCOTLAND Republic of Ireland are there too.

The draw is scheduled to begin at 5pm UK time, but you know how the Uefa clock works. Expect things to get properly under way at around 7pm a week tomorrow. I’ll do a proper guide to the draw in a moment. For now here, are the four pots from which the six groups will be drawn.

12.33pm GMT

Rob will be here from around 4pm. In the meantime, why not read Owen Gibson’s preview of the draw? Or you can create your own draw with our funky interactive.

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