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European Qualifiers live on Sky Sports this week

Image: European Qualifiers: live across Sky Sports throughout the week

On Thursday night Sky Sports kick off coverage of the European Qualifiers taking place across the continent this week. We have 48 matches being shown over six days as all the nations jostle for a place in the finals.

Defending champions Spain currently sit at the top of their group after their 5-1 win over Macedonia last month and this week they pay a visit to second-placed Slovakia in a battle for group supremacy.

Sweden will have to do without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimović as they take on Russia at home in their Group G clash. The Swedes were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against Austria in September, but victory against Russia would give them a strong position in the group and stand them in good stead for qualification.

Elsewhere, Turkey will be looking to put their campaign back on track when they host the Czech Republic on Friday evening. The Czech Republic beat a talented Netherlands side last time out with an injury-time winner, while this time round the Dutch face group-toppers Iceland.

Closer to home Wales take on Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are five places ahead of them in the world rankings. Wales are just two places away from their best ever ranking of 27 from 20 years ago, and the country will hope that Gareth Bale can continue his goal-scoring form to beat talented opposition who will be looking to put right their shock loss to Cyprus in their first group fixture.

Gareth Bale Wales
Image: Gareth Bale: Wales need him to fire if they are to qualify

Group D sees second-placed Republic of Ireland host Gibraltar, who lost 7-0 to Poland last month. Poland face off with Germany on Saturday, and with those two teams currently on the same points as the Republic of Ireland, the Irishmen can't finish the round of fixtures lower than second should they take victory on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the group Scotland welcome Georgia to Hampden Park for their second-round fixture. The Scots lost narrowly to world champions Germany last month, and will be looking to make an early dent in the hopes of a Georgian team who went down 2-1 to the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland take on the Faroe Islands in Group F after their dramatic 2-1 win over Hungary in September. Romania and Finland join Northern Ireland in joint first place in the group after the first round. Romania play host to Hungary while Finland welcome Greece to Olympiastadion in a group that will prove to be one of the most closely-fought.

Defending champions Spain travel to 127th-ranked Luxembourg on Sunday to cement their spot at the top of Group C. Luis Enrique's men have two games to face this week and victory in both would ensure that they will be in a strong position to ensure that they qualify for a chance to defend their trophy.

The Netherlands will take on Kazakhstan on Friday night and Iceland on Monday night, in two games that the Dutch will target as must-win affairs.

Wales host Cyprus at Millennium Stadium in their second fixture of the week. The Welshmen could catapult themselves to the top of Group B if they maintain winning ways against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cyprus. Though Chris Coleman's men are yet to meet World Cup quarter-finalists Belgium, they will need to win these games if they are to target inclusion in the 2016 Euros.

Republic of Ireland face the unenviable task of traveling to Veltins Arena to take on the number-one ranked side and current world champions Germany for their most difficult hurdle in Euro qualification. The Germans were made to work hard for ther victory over Scotland and will want to ensure that their journey to Euro 2016 is not made unnecessarily harder with a loss to the Irishmen.

On Tuesday night Greece host Northern Ireland and our coverage is rounded off with a Scottish trip to Warsaw National Stadium to take on a Lewandowski-captained Polish side looking to maintain their position at the top of Group D.

Sky Sports 5 HD is the home of European Qualifiers this week. See www.skysports.com/livefixtures for full details on all 48 games being shown.

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