Spain coach Vicente del Bosque got his wish. He wanted the defending European champions to be based in Poland for the first round and he wanted to avoid Germany -- if both teams win their groups -- before the final of Euro 2012.

A Spain-Germany final would be a repeat of the 2008 final Spain won, 1-0, on a Fernando Torres goal and a repeat of the 2010 World Cup semifinal match it won by the same score.

"That is something that would be great and I hope it does happen -- it would be a fantastic final," Del Bosque told Cuatro television after the draw. "Group B [with the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Denmark] looks like the strongest but the important thing is that this is going to be a very competitive European Championship."

Spain will face long-time rival Italy -- which it beat in a shootout in the Euro 2008 quarterfinals ---- Croatia and Ireland in Group C and will play all its games in Poland.

"It will be difficult," added Del Bosque. "There are 16 strong teams in the competition, but we wanted to avoid Germany and we wanted to play in Poland."