Upwardly mobile Ireland await World Cup play-off fate

The latest Fifa rankings have seen Ireland move up eight places to 26 but, despite that significant improvement, of the eight countries to qualify for the World Cup play-offs, only Greece, at 47, are ranked below Martin O’Neill’s team.

The seeding of today’s draw in Zurich will see the Republic pitted against either Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, or Croatia in a two-legged tie next month.

The Swiss, 11th in the listings, are the highest ranked of the Pot 1 seeds, followed by Italy (15), Denmark (19) and Croatia (18). Joining the Republic in Pot 2 are Sweden (25), Northern Ireland (23) and Greece. Slovakia, the worst-ranked runners-up at the end of the qualifying campaign, miss out.