ZURICH, Oct 21: Former world champions France will play Ukraine for a place in the World Cup finals in Brazil next year with the advantage of the second leg at home following the draw for the European playoffs on Monday.

Portugal will meet Sweden, featuring a matchup between two of the world’s most exciting players — Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic — Greece will take on Romania and Iceland, who have never played at the finals of a major tournament, are up against Croatia.

The first legs will be played on Nov 15 and the return on Nov 19. The four winners will complete Europe’s 13 entries in the 32-team World Cup draw on Dec 6 in Salvador, Brazil.The last meeting between France and Ukraine ended in a 2-0 win for France after thunder and lightning caused their Euro 2012 match in Donetsk to be suspended last year.

France, who were unseeded in the draw and at 21st are world ranked one place below Ukraine, boast an unbeaten record against the East Europeans with four wins and three games drawn.

“Ukraine are a team who do not concede a lot of goals, but it’s good we are playing the second leg at home,” said France coach Didier Deschamps who was relieved to have avoided Portugal in the draw.

France finished second behind world champions Spain in European Group ‘I’ while Ukraine were runners-up to England in Group ‘H’.

Ukraine’s key player Artem Fedetsky of Dnepropetrovsk believes in his side’s chances despite a tough draw.

“We’ve already been buried after the poor start in the qualifying campaign.

“However, we managed to come back and reach the play-off stage. After that every single match for us was like the final, like a do-or-die mission.

“Now we have serious experience of playing the most important matches. We are a cohesive team now and, I believe, we have fair chances to go through,” he added.

Portugal and Sweden were the first two teams drawn by FIFA on Monday for the European playoffs, though the pairing was talked about as a clash of superstar forwards.

“World-class players like Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, they do something extra to change the game,” Sweden coach Erik Hamren said. “I am pleased we have one, too. But we need our team to be really good.”

Portugal, who finished second behind Russia in Group ‘F’ and were the highest ranked team in the draw at 14 on FIFA’s list, take on Sweden at the 66,000 capacity Luz stadium in Lisbon in the first-leg.

The two have met 15 times with Sweden winning six and Portugal three, but Sweden have not beaten Portugal in seven matches since 1984. They met twice in the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup and drew 0-0 on both occasions.

“They will be evenly balanced and very competitive games,” Portugal coach Paulo Bento said. “Ibrahimovic is an imposing figure, but the Swedes are more than that, they are good collectively.”

Iceland, which has a population of about 315,000, is looking to become the smallest country ever to play at the World Cup. That record is held by 2006 qualifier Trinidad and Tobago, which had about 1.2 million.

Though Iceland lack the recent pedigree of Croatia, the 1998 semi-finalists, the pairing pits a veteran coach against a novice.

Iceland coach Lars Lagerback will be trying to reach his fourth straight World Cup with a third different team. He coached his native Sweden at the 2002 and 2006 tournaments, and Nigeria in 2010.

Croatia’s playoff matches mark the coaching debut of 42-year-old Niko Kovac, who stepped up from the under-21 team to replace Igor Stimac, who was fired after poor results.

“I met Niko a little when he took his (coaching) license,” Lagerback said. “He looks like a clever guy.”

Kovac said he “did not expect this situation” and will work alongside his brother, Robert, another former World Cup stalwart for Croatia.

“With him I am never afraid,” said Kovac, who will be focusing on teamwork. “There was no team on the pitch. We have some good players but everyone working for himself.”

Romania are bidding to return to the final stages for the first time since 1998 and will fancy their chances against goal-shy Greece, who were beaten to top spot in their pool by Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Greece coach Fernando Santos said he would have preferred to play the first match in Romania.

“My message to the fans is that they should believe in the national team, go to the stadium, fill it, and put pressure on our opponents,” Santos said.

Playoffs draw: Portugal v Sweden, Ukraine v France, Greece v Romania, Iceland v Croatia.—Agencies