The football federations of Armenia and Israel are reported to have given the go-ahead to a friendly match between the two countries’ national teams that are now in final preparations for their Euro-2012 qualifying campaigns commencing this fall. The decision now has to be confirmed by Israel's head coach Luis Fernandez, according to the Russian sport publication Sport-Express.

If final arrangements are made, Armenia (currently 95th on the latest FIFA rankings list of more than 200 nations) will host Israel (37th) in Yerevan on August 10 – in what will mark a rare friendly for the Armenians against a more or less highly ranked rival. (The highest friendly match competitor for Armenia in recent years was Greece. Football specialists agree the absence or rarity of international friendly games against strong teams affects the team’s chances for better performance and results in competitive matches.)

Armenia are thus set to become an unlikely sparring team for the Israelis, who saw their scheduled friendly fixture against Cote d’Ivoire fall through following a late withdrawal by the African team. Cote d’Ivoire (or Ivory Coast) led by English Premiership FC Chelsea star Didier Drogba are ranked 26th on the FIFA rankings despite suffering a setback at the latest FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

So far this year Armenia led by new coach Vardan Minasyan has played two friendly matches – losing to Belarus 1-3 and beating Uzbekistan 3-1.

Armenia will open their Euro-2012 qualifying campaign on September 3, hosting one of the group’s favorites Ireland. Armenia’s other rivals at the qualifying stage are Russia, Slovakia, Macedonia and Andorra.