WHO IRELAND COULD GET IN TOMORROW'S WORLD CUP QUALIFIER DRAW (AND THE BEST- AND WORST-CASE SCENARIOS)
THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND women’s national team will discover their group opponents for the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup qualifiers tomorrow.
The draw takes place on Tuesday afternoon in Nyon [12pm Irish time, live on Uefa.com].
Carla Ward’s side are in League A of the World Cup qualifiers after winning their Uefa Nations League promotion/relegation playoff against Belgium, and are now aiming to qualify for back-to-back World Cup finals.
Only the four group winners in League A qualifiers will be guaranteed an automatic place at Brazil 2027, while the other 12 teams will have the security of a seeded playoff spot.
Here’s the 16-team League A line-up, with the four qualifying groups to consist of one team from each pot.
Pot 1: France, Germany, Spain, Sweden.
Pot 2: Netherlands, England, Italy, Norway.
Pot 3: Denmark, Austria, Iceland, Poland.
Pot 4: Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine, Ireland.
* Only two of Sweden, Norway, and Iceland can be drawn in a group together due to Uefa’s ‘winter venue restrictions’
Best/worst draws
Irrespective of how the group campaign unfolds, Ireland are guaranteed a seeded playoff.
Remember the Euro 2025 qualifying campaign? Drawn in the ‘Group of Death’ with England, France and Sweden, Ireland won just one game against France at Páirc Uí Chaoimh and contested the playoffs.
But it’s always interesting to look at the best and worst possible draws ahead of time. Let’s turn to the Fifa world rankings for that.
Spain (1), England (4) and Denmark (14) is the toughest draw for Ireland by that metric.
France (6), Norway (13) and Poland (26) would be the easiest in that light. Italy (14) are another more favourable second seed.
So, drawing both the world and European champions is a live possibility.
Ireland are ranked 27th in the world.
Ward has made no secret of her wish to be pitted against her native country, the back-to-back European champions. “I would love England at Wembley,” the Ireland head coach said last week.
Fixture list
Each team will play one another both home and away in a quick-fire group campaign awaits. Two-game windows are scheduled for March, April and June 2026, with full details to be announced in due course.
- Tuesday, 3 March: Match Day 1
- Saturday, 7 March: Match Day 2
- Tuesday, 14 April: Match Day 3
- Saturday, 18 April: Match Day 4
- Friday, 5 June: Match Day 5
- Tuesday, 9 June: Match Day 6
Playoff pathway
While the winners of each League A group qualify automatically for the 2027 World Cup, the remaining seven direct spots, and a further berth at the inter-confederation playoffs, will be decided by two rounds of playoffs in October and November/December 2026.
Round 1
Following a draw in June, the playoffs will get underway in October. If Ireland finish second or third in their qualifying group, they will play either a group winner or runner-up from League C in Round 1.
However, if Ireland finish fourth in their group, they will instead find themselves on the other side of the draw, where they will play a higher-calibre opponent: one of the teams which finished second or third in League B.
Round 2
If Ireland win, they will progress to the next round of the playoffs, scheduled for late November and early December 2026, where they will be drawn against another Round 1 winner from the opposite side of the draw.
If Ireland win in Round 2, that may well be enough to guarantee direct qualification. However, only seven of the eight Round 2 winners will qualify directly, with the eighth-best team (according to the 2026 Women’s European Qualifiers overall league rankings) having to face a further playoff at the inter-confederation playoffs in February 2027.
Crystal clear…
Promotion/relegation
With the Nations League linked to World Cup and European Championship qualifying, promotion and relegation will also be at stake.
The winners, runners-up and third-placed teams in League A stay in League A, while the fourth-placed teams are relegated to League B.
Anything else to note?
VAR will not be used during the group games but will be active for the playoffs.
With elite opposition a given, Ireland should stage their home games at Aviva Stadium. Páirc Uí Chaoimh is another option after successful ties there recently.
Ireland have one more game in 2025: a behind-closed-doors friendly against Hungary in Marbella on Saturday, 29 November.
The next international window is late February/early March 2026, when the World Cup qualifiers get underway.
Keep an eye on The 42 for all of the draw coverage tomorrow, including reaction from Carla Ward afterwards.
2025-11-03T19:15:15Z