England manager Roy Hodgson has stated that he is looking forward to facing Wales at Euro 2016 after the British pair were drawn in the same group.

The Three Lions will face their cores-border rivals, Slovakia and Russia in Group B, with the pools confirmed at the draw in Paris last night.

England will have high hopes of doing well at the tournament after a comprehensive qualifying campaign and have a dreadful World Cup to overcome after disappointment in Brazil last summer.

Hodgson is not taking Wales lightly however, stressing his admiration for Chris Coleman and picking three stars that could be of real danger to England’s hopes.

“As far as I’m concerned it has been a very satisfactory day,” Hodgson told the FA website.

“We are very pleased Chris Coleman and Wales have done so well, it has been exciting following their progress.

"There were a few teams in that pot that we could have got that would have been a tough one, so why not have a tough one close to home?

“All of their players play in England, but what we know most of all is their team is very well organised, they play very well together, have a fantastic team spirit and a very strong spine.

“In Ashley Williams, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale, you’re talking about three top-class European players right through the spine of the team and Chris has done a good job moulding the rest of the players around that strong spine.

“We have a lot of respect for Wales and the others as well.”

England will be rubbing their hands that they avoided a host of other top teams in the group stages and will be confident of progressing through to the knockout rounds.

The tournament kicks off in France next June, with Europe’s best teams set to do battle to wrestle the crown from defending champions Spain.