Intro:

Petr Cech looks ahead to the Czech Republic's participation in Euro 2012.

Script:

Since their independence, the Czech Republic have qualified for five consecutive European Championships.

They finished runners up in the 1996 tournament but have had mixed fortunes ever since and failed to get out of the group stages in 2008, winning just one match.

In 2012 they line up in Group A along with Russia, Poland and Greece.

While they may not boast many high profile players goalkeeper Petr Cech, who plays his club football with Chelsea, is one exception.

Cech believes Group A will be one of the tightest in the tournament.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Petr Cech

"I think we have exactly the same chances as the other three opponents in the group because I think the quality of our group is that everybody is kind of equal. And I think if you close your eyes and pick any two teams to go to the next stage, you might actually get it right because everybody has for me the same chance. So I find that this is an advantage or could be as well a disadvantage as we are going to need to fight for every goal and for every point."

The Czech Republic will get their Euro 2012 campaign underway with their game against Russia on Friday 8th June.