As usual in recent years, there are more Chelsea players heading off than remaining behind when international duty calls.

Chelsea quintet Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge and captain John Terry head off for England duty as Fabio Capello's side face trips away to Andorra and Croatia.

Having been dumped out of Euro 2008 qualification by Croatia in Steve McClaren's last game in charge, Terry and colleagues will be looking for a place at the top of Group 6 with victories in Barcelona and Zagreb on Saturday September 6 and Wednesday 10 respectively. Trips away to Belarus and former Blue Andriy Shevchenko's home territory of Ukraine await England in a group that is by no means a formality.

Chelsea will be well represented when Portugal turn out in their first two World Cup qualification games away to Malta and then at home to Denmark as Ricardo Carvalho, José Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira and playmaker Deco have been called up.

Whilst three points should be a formality first up, Deco and co. must be at their best to see off a Danish side currently ranked at 36^th in the world. A good start is a must in a tough group that also includes potential slip-ups in the form of Hungary and Sweden.

Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka aim to set France up for qualification when they take on Austria and Serbia in Group 7's first two set of fixtures. Kicking off in Vienna, the Chelsea players will be looking for a win to set up a tricky encounter against fellow Blue Branislav Ivanovic's Serbia in Paris. Lithuania, the Faroe Islands and Romania, a country listed above France in the latest Fifa rankings, fill in the rest of the group.

The Czech Republic has included Petr Cech in its squad to face Northern Ireland on September 10. Cech, recently named by Uefa as the best goalkeeper in last season's Champions League, will seek to keep out a resurgent Northern Ireland, a side which has seen off both England and Spain in Belfast in recent times.

Qualification, however, is expected from the Czechs in a group featuring Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland and whipping boys San Marino.

In the African qualification section, which has already completed four rounds of matches, Salomon Kalou has been selected for the Ivory Coast for their trip away to Mozambique on September 5 whilst Michael Essien has made the Ghana squad for their match against Libya in Tripoli.

Ghana top Group 5 with 9 points from 4 games, the Ivory Coast leading Group 7 after 2 wins and 2 draws in their opening fixtures.

Chelsea striker Ben Sahar, currently on loan at Portsmouth, has been named in Israel's 23-man squad for the forthcoming fixtures at home to Switzerland and away to Moldova as they kick-off their Group 2 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Reserve goalkeeper Rhys Taylor has been picked by Wales U-21 boss Brian Flynn for the upcoming Uefa U-21 qualifying match against Romania in Iasi on Tuesday September 9. He is expected to feature following the promotion of Wayne Hennessey to the full squad last week.

Michael Mancienne will look to win his sixth England U-21 cap when the young Three Lions take on their Portuguese counterparts at Wembley in their Uefa U-21 European Championship Group 3 qualifier on Friday September 5. Michael is joined by Ryan Bertrand, currently on loan at Norwich, in his first call-up for the Under 21s.

Miroslav Stoch has been named in the Slovakia U-21 squad for the Uefa U-21 Championship qualifiers against Belgium and Iceland. Slovakia lie second in the group headed by Austria and may have to settle for a play-off berth.