After defeat to France, what's next for Carla Ward's Ireland?

By finishing third in the group, seeded status is bestowed on them for both the play-off semi-final in October and the November final, should they progress.

Ireland's Denise O'Sullivan. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

With defeat to France, Ireland must now navigate their way to a major tournament by emerging from a fourth play-off series in a row.

Promotion to League B by beating Belgium last October guaranteed Ireland that fallback before a ball was kicked in this six-match World Cup qualifying campaign.

By finishing third in the group, seeded status is bestowed on them for both the semi-final in October and the November final, should they progress. It means they will be at home in the second leg of both ties.

The draw will take place next Wednesday, June 18 in Switzerland.

With only the winners of the four League A pools progressing directly to the finals next summer in Brazil, a whopping 32 others enter the playoff series.

Crucially, Ireland are in what’s known as path one, presenting a notionally easier route to the Copacabana.

In essence, Ireland will be overwhelming favourites to prevail in the semi-final against a team from League C.

After the regulation series concluded simultaneously, one of Romania, Greece, Kosovo, Hungary, Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan or Lithuania will be paired with Ireland in the semi-final.

All of those sides reside below Ireland’s Fifa ranking of 21, and in historical battles, where applicable, Ireland have run out as victors.

The final will be against the winner of a tie between a League B second/third place team and League A last team/League B winner.

Those finals will produce eight winners, of which seven progress to the World Cup. The lowest-seeded of the victors must enter an Intercontinental group but Ireland’s surge in ranking avoids that additional layer.