Valencia centre back Raul Albiol and Espanyol midfielder Albert Riera received their first call-ups for Spain on Friday ahead of the Euro 2008 Group F qualifier away to Denmark on October 13.

Former Getafe player Albiol has been a regular in the Valencia back four over the past three seasons, following a remarkable recovery from a serious car accident in which he lost his spleen.

"I'm delighted at the call-up, it's every player's dream to play for the national side," Albiol said.

"It (the accident) was a difficult time for me and it took me some years to put it behind me, but I never lost hope and now I'm playing for Valencia and the national side.

"It's fantastic, but I've got to remain humble if I want to take advantage of what football and life have given me."

The inclusion of the 22-year-old centre back brings Valencia's representation in the squad to seven players, with David Albelda, Carlos Marchena, Miguel Angel Angulo, David Silva, Joaquin and David Villa joining Albiol on the list.

Left-sided midfielder Riera (pictured) has been brought in as a back up for Valencia's Silva and will be accompanied by club colleague Luis Garcia, who is one of three strikers in the squad.

Real Betis centre back Juanito and Villarreal defender Angel have been dropped, while Barcelona skipper Carles Puyol returns after recovering from a knee injury.

The only other change from the last squad is the absence of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso who is out injured and would, in any case, have missed the Denmark match because of suspension.

Spain are in second place in Group F, level on 19 points with Sweden who have played a game less. Northern Ireland are in third place with 16 points and Denmark, who have a game in hand, are fourth with 14.

The Denmark match will be followed by a friendly away to Finland on October 17. Spain's final two qualifiers are at home to Sweden and Northern Ireland in November.

Spain squad: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool); Defenders: Mariano Pernia (Atletico Madrid), Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Raul Albiol (Valencia), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Carles Puyol (Barcelona); Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Miguel Angel Angulo (Valencia), David Silva (Valencia), David Albelda (Valencia), Joaquin (Valencia), Albert Riera (Espanyol); David Villa (Valencia), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Luis Garcia Espanyol)

Meanwile, Germany coach Joachim Loew was able to recall Werder Bremen trio Torsten Frings, Tim Borowski and Clemens Fritz for their forthcoming qualifiers against Ireland and the Czech Republic.

With captain Michael Ballack still injured, Frings and Borowski, back fit after lengthy absences, could make up the central midfield partnership for the games in Dublin in Munich.

Leading striker Miroslav Klose is also out injured, meaning a place in the squad for Stefan Kiessling of Bayer Leverkusen.

The other injury absentees are defenders Philipp Lahm and Christian Pander and midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Germany are top of Group D with 22 points from eight games. The Czechs are second on 20 points from nine games, with Ireland a distant third on 14, also from nine.

Germany squad: Timo Hildebrand (Valencia), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal); Gonzalo Castro (Bayer Leverkusen), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Manuel Friedrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid); Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Roberto Hilbert (VfB Stuttgart), David Odonkor (Real Betis), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg SV); Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Patrick Helmes (Cologne), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich)

Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho is back in the Portugal squad for the Euro 2008 Group A qualifiers in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

The Premier League player has been recalled after missing the last four qualifiers through injury.

There were no major surprises among the 21-man squad announced by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Scolari will be unable to coach Portugal for the two matches because of a UEFA ban imposed for what the European governing body termed an assault on Serbia player Ivica Dragutinovic after Portugal's 1-1 draw at home to Serbia on September 12.

The Brazilian will be replaced on the bench by his assistant Flavio Murtosa.

Portugal finished runners-up on home soil when they hosted the last European Championship in 2004 but are struggling to book a place at next year's finals.

Scolari's team are third in Group A, four points adrift of leaders Poland and two points behind Finland with only the top two qualifying for the finals.

Portugal and fourth-placed Serbia, who are five points off the pace, have a game in hand over the top two.

Portugal squad: Ricardo Pereira (Betis Sevilla), Quim Silva (Benfica); Miguel Monteiro (Valencia), Jose Bosingwa (Porto), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Fernando Meira (VfB Stuttgart), Tonel (Sporting), Bruno Alves (Porto); Raul Meirelos (Porto), Miguel Veloso (Sporting), Joao Moutinho (Sporting), Deco (Barcelona), Maniche Ribeiro (Atletico Madrid), Duda (Sevilla); Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Simao Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid), Ricardo Quaresma (Porto), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Nani (Manchester United).

Russia coach Guus Hiddink has kept faith with his squad for the decisive Euro 2008 qualifier against England despite being thoroughly outplayed by the same opponents three weeks ago in London.

On Friday, Hiddink picked a virtually unchanged squad for the October 17 encounter against the English in Moscow that is likely to decide the outcome of a tight Group E.

England, on 20 points, leapfrogged Russia (18 points) into second place behind pacesetters Croatia (23) after beating them 3-0 at Wembley on September 12.

Provided they beat Estonia at home on October 13, the English can afford to draw their last two games, in Russia and at home to Croatia, and still qualify, while the Russians must beat England to have a realistic chance of reaching next year's finals.

Hiddink called up 19 players for what he described as a "must-win game" on a synthetic pitch in Luzhniki.

"We don't have that many players to choose from, making our options limited," the Dutchman said.

The only notable absentee was Spartak Moscow winger Vladimir Bystrov, who is out for the rest of the year after suffering a ligament tear in his left knee two weeks ago.

The Russians, however, can rely again on goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov, who was suspended for the match at Wembley after being sent off in the previous game against Macedonia.

With the undisputed number one Igor Akinfeyev still recovering from a serious knee injury, Gabulov should get the nod over veteran Vyacheslav Malafeyev, who looked shaky against the English at Wembley.

The Moscow match has attracted huge interest, with the Russian FA receiving more than 500,000 requests for tickets from all over the country.

"The demand has been unprecedented," a spokesman for the Russian FA said.

Because of the security arrangements, only 74,000 seats have been made available at the 84,000 Luzhniki Stadium.

Russia squad: Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit St Petersburg), Vladimir Gabulov (Kuban Krasnodar), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow); Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow); Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Torbinsky (Spartak Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St Petersburg); Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow), Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexander Kerzhakov (Sevilla), Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg).

Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin on Friday named the following 20-man squad for the Euro 2008 Group B qualifiers away to Scotland and at home to the Faroe Islands.

Ukraine squad: Olexander Shovkovsky (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk); Andriy Nesmachny (Dynamo Kiev), Olexander Kucher (Shakhtar Donetsk), Volodymyr Yezersky (Shakhtar Donetsk), Dmytro Chygrynsky (Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Rusol (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk); Oleg Gusev (Dynamo Kiev), Ruslan Rotan (Dynamo Kiev), Taras Mykhalyk (Dynamo Kiev), Anatoly Tymoshchuk (Zenit St Petersburg), Serhiy Nazarenko (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Oleg Shelaev (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Olexander Hryzay (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Olexiy Gay (Shakhtar Donetsk); Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea), Andriy Voronin (Liverpool), Andriy Vorobei (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Olexander Hladkiy (Shakhtar Donetsk), Artem Milevsky (Dynamo Kiev).

Reuters