Poland's campaign got off to a disastrous start with a 3-1 defeat at home to Finland, for whom Jari Litmanen bagged a brace.

Mika Vaeyrynen got the other, while Lukasz Gargula got a consolation for the hosts, who also had Arkadiusz Glowacki sent off.

Serbia crept to a 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan, with Nikola Zigic grabbing the winner 18 minutes from time.

World Cup winners Italy were held to an embarrassing 1-1 draw with Lithuania in front of 60,000 fans in Naples.

The visitors stunned the home crowd by taking a first-half lead through Tomas Danilevicius, with Filippo Inzaghi levelling matters seven minutes later.

World Cup finalists France started their campaign with a 3-0 defeat of Georgia in Tbilisi.

Florent Malouda opened the scoring and Louis Saha added a second, while Malkhaz Asatiani put the ball into his own net to complete a miserable afternoon for the home team.

Scotland opened their campaign with an impressive 6-0 win over the Faroe Islands at Celtic Park, with Darren Fletcher, James McFadden, Kris Boyd (two), Kenny Miller and Garry O'Connor scoring.

Norway got off to a fine start with a 4-1 thumping away in Hungary, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer bagging a brace and Fredrik Stromstad and Morten Gamst Pedersen grabbing the others, while Zoltan Gera got the hosts' consolation.

Bosnia-Herzegovina hammered Malta 5-2 in Valletta, Sergei Barbarez opening the scoring and Mirko Hrgovic and Zlatan Muslimovic both scoring twice.

Jamie Pace and Michael Mifsud scored as the home side made a disappointing start to their campaign.

In the group's other game, Euro 2004 champions Greece won 1-0 away in Moldova despite Angelos Basinas missing a penalty, with Nikos Liberopoulos sparing their blushes.

Germany beat Republic of Ireland 1-0 in Stuttgart, with Lukas Podolski notching the winner thanks to a deflected free-kick.

Czech Republic left it late to beat Wales 2-1, substitute David Lafata scoring twice either side of a Martin Jiranek own goal to give Karel Bruckner's side a scarcely-deserved three points.

Slovakia thumped Cyprus 6-1 in Bratislava, with Marek Mintal and Filip Sebo both hitting doubles for the home team.

Martin Skrtel and Miroslav Karhan also got on the scoresheet, while Yiasemakis Yiasemi struck a Cypriot consolation.

England defeated minnows Andorra 5-0 at Old Trafford, with Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe both scoring twice in Steve McClaren's first competitive match. Steve Gerrard scored the other.

In the group's other game, Israel scored an early goal to see off the threat of Estonia 1-0 in Tallinn, with Roberto Colautti getting the all-important goal.

Spain thumped Liechtenstein 4-0 to get off to a fine start, with David Villa scoring twice and Fernando Torres and Luis Garcia also getting on the scoresheet.

Northern Ireland began their campaign disastrously with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Iceland at Windsor Park. Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson, Hermann Hreidarsson and Eidur Gudjohnsen scored for the visiting team.

Sweden collected three points away at Latvia, with Kim Kallstrom scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory seven minutes before half-time.

Marco van Basten's Holland were so nearly embarrassed by Luxembourg but managed to scrape home 1-0, with a Joris Mathijsen strike.

Belarus were held 2-2 by Albania, with Timofei Kalachyov and Maxim Romashchenko bagging for the Belarussians and Ervin Skela and Besnik Hasi hitting back for the visitors.

Martin Petrov scored twice in the last eight minutes to earn Bulgaria a 2-2 draw away in Romania, with Laurentiu Rosu and Ciprian Marica notching for the hosts, who also had Gabriel Tamas dismissed late on.