Monday 14 December 2015 15:09, UK
UEFA has announced two new rules for friendly internationals ahead of Euro 2016 in France next summer.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have all qualified for the tournament and are beginning their preparations in earnest following the draw at the weekend.
The new rules are as follows:
21.04: With the exception of matches involving France, teams competing in the final tournament are not allowed to play friendly matches in the host country from three months before the start until one month after the end of the final tournament.
21.05: In the month preceding the final tournament, each participating team, including France, is allowed to play a maximum of one friendly match against another participating team, provided that the two teams are not in the same final tournament group.
England intend to announce all their pre-tournament friendlies in one batch and have already arranged friendlies against Germany on March 26 and the Netherlands on March 29.
One of their friendly matches ahead of Euro 2016 will be played at Wembley, with perhaps two away from Wembley, with one of them believed to be pencilled in for the north east of England.
