© Reuters 2002

STOCKHOLM, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Sweden will begin their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign with a trip to Latvia and will not face group four co-favourites Poland until June 2003.

Representatives of the five countries in the group met in Stockholm on Friday to arrange the fixtures.

Sweden, who failed to progress beyond the group stage of the the 2000 European championships, begin their programme in Latvia on September 7, with Poland playing in San Marino on the same day.

The Swedes then host Hungary (October 12), visit Hungary (April 2), and travel to San Marino (June 7) before taking on the Poles in Stockholm on June 11.

The return game in Poland, who have never qualified for the European championship finals but will take part in the 2002 World Cup, is on September 10.

"We got the warm-up which we needed for the matches against Poland," Swedish co-coach Tommy Soderberg was quoted as saying on the UEFA web site.

Of the opening trip to Latvia he said: "It will be a tough challenge but it's better to go there straight after the World Cup because we might need to introduce some new players in our matches and that would have been difficult to do against Poland."

Poland coach Jerzy Engel also seemed content with the outcome of the meeting. "We are pleased with the draw," he said. "We were all very prepared when we arrived and it only took us 10 minutes to agree on the schedule. I am especially happy that we won't meet Sweden until 2003 because that will give us time to focus on the World Cup."