Women’s World Cup qualifiers draw explainer: what lies ahead for the Ward's side
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: Ireland will be part of the draw for the 2027 World Cup qualification European series, to be held at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon. Proceedings on Tuesday get underway at 12 noon Irish time, viewable live on Uefa’s website. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Fifa seldom do draws in simple fashion and that’s the case again for Tuesday’s Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
We’ve got you covered with everything needed to know about the rocky road to Brazil for Ireland’s Girls in Green.
Ireland will be part of the draw for the 2027 World Cup qualification European series, to be held at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon. Proceedings on Tuesday get underway at 12 noon Irish time, viewable live on Uefa’s website.
Places at the next global showpiece. Brazil will host the Women’s World Cup for the first time, staging 64 games across eight cities in the summer of 2027.
While the men’s equivalent expands to 48 nations from next year’s tournament in North America, it won’t be repeated for the females until the 2031 version, also being held in America and Caribbean.
As was the case for the 2023 World Cup, eleven are guaranteed to be among the 32. Another place is available through the Inter-confederation playoffs.
Yes. In typical, convoluted fashion, Fifa conducts a mini-tournament before the real tournament as a test event.
For this reason, one of the playoff winners from Europe won’t book a direct ticket.
This was the case for Portugal last time but they emerged through the hurdles in New Zealand to seal their route to neighbouring Oz, expanding Europe’s presence to 12. We’ll return to this route later.
Seedings for this draw were determined by the outcome of the Uefa Nations League series contested this year, concluding with last week’s playoffs.
Overall, 53 nations are split into three leagues: League A with 16 teams, League B with 16 teams and League C with 21 teams.
Ireland are part of the League A subset. This was earned by sealing promotion through defeating Belgium 5-4 on aggregate, thus becoming the first team since the concept began to cause an upset in the playoffs.
This top tier of 16 is divided into four pots. Ireland, as one of the promoted teams, prop up the roster in Pot 4. They cannot meet Ukraine, Slovenia or Serbia.
Accordingly, they will be drawn against a team each from the following:
: France, Germany, Spain and Sweden
: Netherlands, England, Italy and Norway
: Denmark, Austria, Iceland and Poland.
Gaps in standards are wider across women’s football than men’s. Therefore a Group of Death for Ireland would contain World champions Spain and back-to-back European holders England. Denmark, 14th in the world and full of stars, are the one to avoid from Pot 3.
The best of bad possibilities is a pool containing France, Italy and Poland.
Ireland’s sole victory in the last occasion they shared company with the top tier was over the French at Pairc Uí Chaoimh in July 2024. Italy, for all their improvements over the past two years, are beatable, while Poland are just one place ahead of Ireland in the rankings at 26th.
Four teams in each pool will face each other on a home and away basis, encompassing three double-headers from February 26-March 7, April 9-18 and June 3-9.
Only operations staff from the association. Ireland manager Carla Ward will deliver her reaction to media afterwards.
Close to zero through the front door anyway.
The only teams assured of direct qualification are the winners of the four League A pools.
The seven other guaranteed berths will be claimed by teams who emerge through the playoffs, effectively another round of qualifiers to consume the second half of 2026. In all, 32 teams, gulp, enter this round.
Not quite.
Unlike that one-off shootout, there’s two rounds to navigate.
How Ireland finish their qualifiers will influence which ‘path’ they participate in.
Essentially, Ireland’s realistic objective is finishing third in the pool.
Were they to grab second or third in their League A group, Ireland enter Round 1 of the playoffs in Path 1 up against a team from League C.
In the case of them finishing bottom, the alternative channel via Path 2 arises, pitting them into a notionally more difficult tussle against a League B opponent. Scotland and Ireland’s conquerors for a Euros spot, Wales, reside here.
Crucially, League A teams are entitled to be seeded and have their home leg second.
Overcome that barrier and Ireland will be one step away from the Copacabana. Well, almost guaranteed.
Seven of the eight winners from Round 2 go straight to Brazil.
The eight is an outlier, based on Fifa’s rankings, by being rerouted into the purgatory of the Inter-confederation playoffs.
Brazil will have their dry run by hosting, welcoming the European team into the second phase alongside two teams from CONCACAF, the higher-ranked team from CONMEBOL, and two qualifiers from the initial phase. Three teams left standing at the end complete the line-up, aided by familiarity with the local terrain.
1 France
2 Germany
3 Spain
4 Sweden
5 Netherlands
6 England
7 Italy
8 Norway
9 Denmark
10 Austria
11 Iceland
12 Poland
13 Slovenia
14 Serbia
15 Ukraine
16 Republic of Ireland
17 Belgium
18 Portugal
19 Wales
20 Switzerland
21 Scotland
22 Czechia
23 Finland
24 Northern Ireland
25 Albania
26 Türkiye
27 Slovakia
28 Israel
29 Luxembourg
30 Malta
31 Montenegro
32 Latvia
33 Bosnia and Herzegovina
34 Hungary
35 Romania
36 Belarus
37 Croatia
38 Greece
39 Cyprus
40 Kosovo
41 Azerbaijan
42 Faroe Islands
43 Kazakhstan
44 Estonia
45 Lithuania
46 Armenia
47 Bulgaria
48 Moldova
49 North Macedonia
50 Georgia
51 Andorra
52 Liechtenstein
53 Gibraltar
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