2 weeks Ago
IRELAND HAVE BEEN drawn against Bulgaria in their promotion/relegation play-off in the Nations League. The Nations League has now expanded so that teams finishing third in their group must play-off across two legs against a runner-up from the league below to secure their status. Having finished third in their League B group, Ireland must now beat Bulgaria over two legs next year to secure their status.
The sides last met in the 2020 Nations League campaign: the teams drew 1-1 in Sofia before drawing 0-0 in Dublin. Bulgaria finished second behind Northern Ireland in their Nations League group, and ahead of Belarus and Luxembourg. Bulgaria won two of their six games – at home to Northern Ireland and away to Luxembourg – but were hammered 5-0 in Belfast.
They are ranked 84th in the Fifa rankings, 21 places below Ireland. By drawing Bulgaria, Ireland avoided the toughest opponent in Slovakia, who were the only possible opponent ranked above Ireland in Fifa’s standings. Slovakia were paired with Slovenia, while Georgia will face Armenia and Iceland will play Kosovo.
The games will be on Thursday 20 and Sunday 23 March next year. Ireland will be at home for the second leg. Elsewhere in the League A/B play-offs, Scotland will have to beat Greece over two legs to secure their League A status.
Belgium will face Ukraine, Hungary have been pitted against Turkiye, and Austria will play Serbia. Meanwhile, the Nations League has been further expanded to include quarter-finals among the sides that finished in the top two of their respective groups in League A. Netherlands will face title holders Spain, Croatia have been drawn against France, Denmark have been paired with Portugal, while Italy will square off against Germany.
These quarter-finals will also be played in March, with the semi-finals and final fixed for June. The winners of Italy/Germany will face Netherlands or Spain. Denmark or Portugal, therefore will face either Croatia or France.
Given Ireland are playing Nations League games in March, they will be unavailable for World Cup qualifiers at that time, and so are guaranteed to be drawing in a four-team qualifying group with fixtures beginning in September. Ireland are therefore guaranteed to be paired in World Cup qualifying with one of the four winning sides of the League A quarter finals. The World Cup qualifying draw takes place on 13 December.
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