All but two of the Groups in European Zone qualifying for Brazil 2014 have had their fixtures finalised, with England, France, Italy and Spain starting out away to Moldova, Finland, Bulgaria and Georgia respectively.
"We’re Italy and naturally, with the greatest respect to the other sides in the group, we’re aiming to finish in first place," Cesare Prandelli, Italy coach
Since crashing out at the group stage at South Africa 2010, Italy have revamped their squad and will look to top Group B in Europe, with Denmark, Czech Republic and Bulgaria their toughest opponents in the section.
The draw for the European zone yielded some potentially thrilling sections, with local rivalries set to be stirred and the world champions left to do battle with another winner of football's ultimate prize.
Switzerland and Slovakia seized Europe's last two automatic berths in South Africa, while Portugal, Greece, Slovenia and Ukraine made the play-offs.
Fatih Terim's second reign as Turkey boss came to an end with a comfortable, if unspectacular, ten-man victory over Group 5's basement side Armenia.