Women's World Cup draw: Ireland drawn with France, Netherlands and Poland 

The draw from the Women's World Cup qualification takes place in Nyon.

DRAW: The draw takes place in Nyon at 12pm. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

2.30pm: Republic of Ireland head coach Carla Ward's reaction to the pool that Ireland have been drawn in.

1pm: Fixtures will be finalised later. 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.

LEAGUE 1: Ireland have been drawn against France, Netherlands and Poland in Group A2. Pic: Uefa Women's Nations League

12.57pm: The Dutch, ranked 11 in the world, are managed by Arjan Veurink. He was assistant to England boss Sarina Wiegman, who followed the Euro triumph with her native country by winning it the last two.

Still leading the line for the Dutch is Vivianne Miedema, the veteran former Arsenal striker currently at Manchester City.

12.53pm: Top seeds France, ranked sixth in the world, are known as a nation of underachievers in the women’s game.

A major title has eluded them. Quarter-finals is the farthest they’ve reached in the World Cup, semis at the Euros.

This is a disappointing return for a country so successful on the club circuit. Lyon won the Champions League five times on the trot from 2016-2020, reclaiming it from Barcelona in 2022 before losing to the same opponent in 2024.

Laurent Bonadei succeeded the affable Hervé Renard as manager. He was in charge for both Euro qualifiers against Ireland in 2024, overseeing a 1-0 win in Metz before Ireland prevailed 3-1 at Pairc Uí Chaoimh.

In 2025, they’ve lost just once in play over 14 games. The year began with a 11-match winning streak, including a win over holders England at the Euros but they were eliminated in the last-eight by Germany 6-5 on penalties.

The superpowers met again in the recent League A championship, France narrowly losing 3-2 on aggregate following a 1-0 loss in Dusseldorf.

12.44pm: At least Ireland avoided the group of death against world champions Spain and back to back Euro holders England.

Netherlands, Euro champions in 2017, were a second seed to avoid but a battle with promoted Poland to clinch third looms for Ireland.

League A pools:

A1: Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Serbia 

A2: France, Netherlands, Poland, Ireland.

A3: Spain, England, Iceland, Ukraine.

A4: Germany, Norway, Austria, Slovenia.

12.38pm: On to League A but Ireland must wait further. Drawn from the top in order of pots, Ireland reside in the last of four. The top quartet, World champions Spain, Sweden France and Germany have been assigned their pools.

England have just been drawn with Spain – the pool to avoid for Ireland.

Shant be long now…

12.34pm: Three of our neighbours form part of League B and have been kept apart in the draw.

Northern Ireland share their group with Switzerland, Turkey and Malta.

Scotland are in with the team Ireland relegated to League B, Belgium, along with Israel and Luxembourg.

Wales, who beat Ireland in a playoff for a place at the Euros earlier this year, will chart their route by facing Czechia, Albania and Montenegro.

12.18pm: The draw is being made in reverse order, starting with League C. Ireland will have to be patient before the formalities roll into League A....

12.16pm: The preliminaries are underway in Switzerland, with UEFA director for women's football Nadine Kessler acting as host.

The former Germany international wasn’t afraid to highlight the continent’s success in recent years, peaked by Spain claiming gold at the last tournament in Australia.

“For the 2019 World Cup, seven of eight quarter-finalists were from Europe,” she said.

“We also have all three places on podium at the 2023 World Cup.

“Every team here has a chance of qualifying but you will have to be comfortable to be uncomfortable.” Kessler has invited former Spanish midfielder Virginia Torrecilla on stage to conduct the draw. She who retired from international football at 2020 with 66 caps

12pm: 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.

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:

Pot 1: France, Germany, Spain and Sweden 

Pot 2: Netherlands, England, Italy and Norway 

Pot 3: Denmark, Austria, Iceland and Poland.

What are the worst and best possible outcomes for Ireland?

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.