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The initial round of qualifying matches for football’s 2012 European Championships takes place later this week with England set to face Bulgaria in London for the first time in over a decade.

England has been placed in a relatively easy qualification group for the tournament, which gets underway in Poland and the Ukraine from June of 2012, with Switzerland, Wales and Montenegro joining Bulgaria as its opponents.

The ‘Three Lions’ go into the match on Friday as a heavy favourite with Coral.co.uk, SportingBet.com, WilliamHill.com, BetFred.com and Ladbrokes.com offering odds of 2/7 on a home triumph.

Slightly longer, Bwin.com, ToteSport.com and BoyleSports.com are listing Fabio Capello’s men at odds of 3/10 to win against Bulgaria while StanJames.com, Bodog.com, BlueSq.com, 888Sport.com, SkyBet.com and PaddyPower.com are offering 1/3 followed by BetDaq.com and Betfair.com with 6/17.

Bulgaria has met England eight times going back to the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile but has not managed a single victory while only scoring two goals. Ladbrokes.com, WilliamHill.com and Coral.co.uk show odds of 7/1 on this changing come Friday evening while BetFred.com is offering 15/2.

The eastern European side is rated as the 43rd best team in the world while England is ranked seventh with punters able to get odds of 8/1 from PaddyPower.com, BlueSq.com, StanJames.com, 888Sport.com, SkyBet.com and ToteSport.com on Bulgaria pulling off a win. This is followed by BoyleSports.com, Bwin.com, Bodog.com and SportingBet.com with 9/1 while Betfair.com and BetDaq.com show 25/2.

The last two meetings between the sides, which came during the qualification campaign for the 2000 European Championships in Belgium and The Netherlands, finished in draws and SkyBet.com is showing odds of 3/1 that this week’s contest will finish the same way. This is followed by ToteSport.com showing 10/3 while bettors can get 7/2 at BetFred.com, Ladbrokes.com, 888Sport.com, PaddyPower.com, Coral.co.uk, BlueSq.com and SportingBet.com.

Bulgaria has only qualified for the European Championships on two occasions, in 1996 and 2004, while England has appeared in seven of the 13 competitions including five of the last six. Bwin.com and Bodog.com has odds of 15/4 on a draw on Friday while StanJames.com, Betfair.com and BetDaq.com are going with 4/1.