Republic of Ireland must overcome Belgium or Poland again if they are to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup following the play-off draw this morning.
The Girls in Green were handed a favourable first round tie against the side ranked 100th in the world, Kazahkstan, with the winner to progress to a decider to reach the outright tournament.
That game will be against a side Ireland are very familiar with.
Carla Ward’s side recorded narrow home and away victories over Poland in the UEFA Nations League recently, while they battled to a 5-4 relegation play-off over Belgium in the same competition at the end of last year.
Poland and Belgium will meet firstly in their bid to progress to Round 2.
The matches with Kazakhstan will take place from 7-13 October, while the Belgium/Poland tie will be played in late November and early December, if Ireland go through.
Northern Ireland have drawn Portugal, Wales play Albania and Scotland face the Czech Republic.
England will play Greece in the first round.
Should England, the 2023 World Cup runners-up, advance to round two, they will play the winner of Slovakia vs Ukraine.
Northern Ireland would play Croatia or Iceland, Wales would face Romania or Norway, and Scotland could see themselves taking on either Lithuania or Sweden.
The seven best-ranked winners from round two qualify for next year’s finals, while the remaining winner will still need to win the inter-confederation play-off.
European teams enter the second round of that play-off, taking place in February 2027.
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