Whilst England and Wales were drawn together - alongside Switzerland, Bulgaria and Montenegro - at the Euro 2012 draw, Scotland were placed in Group I alongside defending champions Spain.
The Scots will also face the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Liechtenstein, while the draw was relatively kind to the Republic of Ireland, who will meet Russia, Slovakia, FYR Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra in Group B.
New Scotland manager Craig Levein said: “To draw Spain will capture the Scottish people's imagination. Obviously Spain are the favourites but there's an opportunity to pick up points against all the teams in the group. There's a lot of research to do but we've got the time."
He added: “There's a case for saying we raise our game against so-called bigger nations. They don't come any bigger than Spain but I believe we have better players than recent results might indicate.
"I want to try and develop a really good unit here based on team spirit. That can sometimes more than make up for playing against better players."
Northern Ireland face a stiff challenge, however, having been drawn in Group C with world champions
Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Estonia and Faroe Islands.
France will hope to avoid a repeat of the play-off drama which saw them each this summer's World Cup after being handed a relatively kind pool. Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania and
Luxembourg are their opponents in Group D.
Holland will face Scandinavian teams Sweden and Finland as well as Hungary, Moldova and San Marino, while Germany are in Group A alongside Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan
Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia and Malta make up Group F, while Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus and Iceland are in Group H.
England will be among the favourites, but current holders Spain will be the team to beat once again.
Coach Vicente del Bosque said he will ensure his team are firing on al cylinders ahead of their qualifying campaign
“The most important thing for us is that from September our new task will be to qualify for Euro 2012,” said del Bosque.
“We will be looking to defend a title that was won spectacularly by Spain in 2008. Every team in Europe has moved on and improved since then, and in our group you will see many different styles of football being played. What we must do is prepare in the best way possible.
“Right now we have the World Cup coming up, but after that we will be giving all our attention to reaching Poland and Ukraine. Let's see if we can do it.”
