After opening with home draws against Croatia and Israel, Russia won five of their next six games.

Aleksandr Kerzhakov struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 home victory against Andorra and the only game of that sequence they did not win was a goalless draw in Croatia.

Russia had a major setback, losing 3-0 at Wembley to England, but got their revenge a month later with a dramatic recovery in Moscow.

Substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice in five second-half minutes to cancel out Wayne Rooney's opener.

That result left Russia second in the section, needing six points from their final games in Israel and Andorra to be sure of qualifying, but a 2-1 defeat in Israel put England back in pole position to qualify.

However, the drama continued on the final day, with England losing 3-2 at home against group winners Croatia, allowing a ten-man Russia to seal their progress with a 1-0 win in Andorra.

As an independent state, Russia qualified for the European Championships in 1996 and 2004, but failed to get past the group stages on both occasions.

Prior to Euro 96, Russia participated as The Commonwealth of Independent States during Euro 92 having previously played as a member of the Soviet Union from the competition's inception in 1958.

The Soviet Union appeared in the first four final rounds of the European Championship, winning the inaugural competition in 1960.

They would end up as losing finalists in 1964, 1972 and 1988.