{"id":293062,"date":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293062\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","slug":"the-best-and-worst-case-scenarios-for-ireland-in-tomorrows-nations-league-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/293062\/","title":{"rendered":"The best and worst-case scenarios for Ireland in tomorrow’s Nations League draw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Paul Fennessy<\/p>\n

THE DRAW for the 2026-27 Nations League takes place tomorrow, and Ireland will be among the countries watching on with interest.<\/p>\n

The draw is due to take place at the Brussels Expo in Belgium, around 5pm Irish time and can be watched live on Uefa\u2019s official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a reminder, the Boys in Green will be in League B, the second-highest tier, after avoiding relegation to League C thanks to a two-legged playoff victory over Bulgaria last March.<\/p>\n

In this latest edition of the competition, the league phase matches will take place between 24 September and 17 November 2026.<\/p>\n

The quarter-finals and A-B\/B-C promotion-relegation playoffs are set for\u00a025-30 March 2027, with the finals on 9-13 June 2027, and League C\/D play-offs are set for 23\u201328 March 2028.<\/p>\n

A strong performance in the Nations League is important for seeding and can boost a team\u2019s chances of qualification for a major tournament.<\/p>\n

Although in Ireland\u2019s case, it is less essential than usual, given that the Boys in Green are likely to qualify for Euro 2028 as tournament co-hosts<\/a> if they do not advance automatically.<\/p>\n

Whether\u00a0Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson is in charge of Ireland by the time the Nations League begins remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

The Icelandic coach\u2019s contract is due to expire at the end of the current tournament cycle.<\/p>\n

His decision may depend on how Ireland fare in the upcoming playoffs, as they bid to secure World Cup qualification by beating Czechia on 26 March and Denmark\/North Macedonia on 31 March.\n<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

54 teams will compete in the upcoming Nations League.<\/p>\n

Leagues A, B, and C will each feature 16 teams divided into four groups of four.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, League D comprises six teams divided into two groups of three.<\/p>\n

As usual, the teams that finish bottom will be relegated (aside from League D teams), and those that top their group (aside from League A teams) will be promoted, while there will be promotion-relegation playoffs involving teams that finish second and second from bottom.<\/p>\n

Given that League C has four groups and League D has two, the two worst-ranked League C teams will automatically be relegated, while the other two will contest the playoffs against the League D runners-up.<\/p>\n

Every team in Leagues A-C will play six matches (three each home and away), while League D teams play four fixtures.<\/p>\n

In League A, the group winners and runners-up progress to the quarter-finals, played home-and-away over two legs.<\/p>\n

In all playoff cases, the higher-ranked teams have the advantage of hosting the second leg.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Ireland are one of 16 teams in League B.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teams are seeded into four pots based on previous performances.<\/p>\n

Ireland are third seeds, along with Slovakia, Georgia and Romania, so the Boys in Green cannot be paired with any of these teams.<\/p>\n

The first seeds are: Scotland, Hungary, Poland and Israel.<\/p>\n

The second seeds are: Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The fourth seeds are:\u00a0Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland and Kosovo.<\/p>\n

So, based on seeding, you can determine the theoretical worst and the best-case scenarios for Ireland:<\/p>\n

Worst-case scenario for Ireland: Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden.<\/p>\n

Best-case scenario for Ireland: Israel, Ukraine, Kosovo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Fennessy THE DRAW for the 2026-27 Nations League takes place tomorrow, and Ireland will be among the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3970,83835,44682,61,60,4710,59269,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-293062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-explainer","9":"tag-fyi","10":"tag-heimir-halgrimsson","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-ireland-republic","14":"tag-nations-league","15":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}