Portman Road will host its first ever full England game in August 2003 with Croatia the opponents. The friendly will be a precursor to the two European Championship qualifiers against Macedonia and Liechtenstein in early September.
Given that the European Championship games are so near to the Portman Road match it looks likely that a strong England side will face the Croats.
Reports that an England international might be on its way to Portman Road first surfaced in February. However, this was vehemently denied by Town chairman David Sheepshanks.
With Wembley still out of conmmission the FA is taking the national side on a tour of the country with Southampton and Derby amongst the grounds recently hosting matches.
The club will receive a fee from the FA for hosting the match as well as a great deal of prestige.
Previously Portman Road has hosted U21 matches and most recently the U19 game against Germany earlier this year in which Town striker Darren Bent score twice as Germany were defeated 3-1. The success of that game looks to have eased the way for next August's match.