England are coming to town

IPSWICH Town will host a full England international at Portman Road, the EADT can confirm today.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's senior side will meet Croatia in a friendly on Tuesday, August 19, while Yugoslavia will travel to Leicester City's Walkers Bowl on June 3.

Although neither club, nor the three Football Associations have formally announced the dates, all parties have been consulted and have agreed the fixtures.

It is customary for the FA to announce the time and dates of England fixtures and Ipswich are still waiting for a formal announcement.

Chairman David Sheepshanks last night said: "We asked the FA about 18 months ago about the possibility of holding a senior international one day.

"It is exciting to hear we may now be in the hat but other than that there is not much I can say as any formal confirmation would come from the FA."

No official figures are available from the FA on how much Ipswich would benefit financially, but I understand West Ham made more than £150,000 for hosting the England defeat by Australia in front of 33,000 fans.

Although Ipswich will be out of administration by August the money will still be a welcome boost for the struggling club, especially if they do not win promotion.

The Blues successfully hosted an England Under-19 international last year with Darren Bent scoring twice in the win over Germany.

Both England friendlies could cause conflict with Premiership clubs concerned at how many games their players are being asked to perform in.

The game at Leicester comes eight days before Eng;land's European Championship qualifier with Slovakia at Middlesbrough. The Portman Road clash will be played at the beginning of the season before England travel to Macedonia on September 6 before entertaining Liechenstein four days later, both in qualifiers.