Having never reached the Euro finals, Israel have were seeded in the third tier pot, and managed to avoid all of Europe's biggest teams, with Poland and Austria being drawn out of the first and second tier pots. The top two teams in the group qualify automatically, with the third placed teams going into a playoff round.

Israel manager Andi Herzog, who is Austrian said that he was excited to be playing his native country. "It seems to me that all the teams in this group are satisfied with what is a very interesting draw.

We have a great change to progress but we'll have to work very hard. It will be crazy that I'll be coaching Israel against Austria where I was born and played."

Israeli midfielder Eran Zahavi said: "This is a draw that gives us a real opportunity to fulfill our potential. There are no games that we cannot win and no games in which we can take it easy.

"We must continue strengthening the positive things we saw in the Nations League, where I felt a real change for the better in the team."

Israel's opening matches will be at home to Slovenia on March 21 followed by Austria on March 24.

Other fixtures:

Latvia (away) June 7

Poland (away) June 10

Macedonia (home) September 5

Slovenia (away) September 9

Austria (away) October 10

Latvia (home) October 15

Poland (home) November 16

Macedonia (away) November 19