Leicester to stage England friendly

England will play Serbia and Montenegro in a friendly international in Leicester on 3 June ahead of UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying matches for both sides.

Crucial qualifiers
With both nations' domestic seasons having finished the previous month, coaches Sven-Göran Eriksson and Dejan Savicevic will enjoy having plenty of time to prepare for vital qualifiers. Serbia and Montenegro, formerly Yugoslavia, are away to Finland in Group 9 on 7 June before a trip to Azerbaijan four days' later. England play Slovakia at home on 11 June.

Stadium rotation
The game, which will kick off at 21.00CET, will mark the first occasion that Leicester City FC will have hosted a senior international match. The Football Association has adopted a policy of rotating home England fixtures around various club grounds since the decision to redevelop Wembley in 2000. The capacity of the Walkers stadium is 32,500.

'Fantastic honour'
Tim Davies, the chief executive of Leicester, said: "This is a fantastic honour, not just for Leicester City Football Club, but for the whole community of Leicestershire. It is a great privilege that after 119 years of football in Leicester that we can now look forward to hosting our first ever full senior international.

Liechtenstein next
England have never previously faced Serbia and Montenegro at international level, although there were numerous senior fixtures against Yugoslavia. The most recent was England's 2-1 win in 1989 at Wembley. England's next qualifier is against Liechtenstein in Group 7 on 29 March, while Serbia-Montenegro's next opponents are Group 9 leaders Wales on 2 April.