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2027 Women’s World Cup: Who could Northern Ireland face in qualifying?

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Northern Ireland will discover who stands between them and a possible play-off when the draw for 2027 World Cup qualifying takes place on Tuesday.

Qualifying for the tournament, which will be held in Brazil, follows the same format as the Nations League and is split into three tiers.

After their promotion play-off defeat by Iceland, Tanya Oxtoby’s side will be in League B for qualifying.

To progress to the play-offs, second seeds NI must not finish bottom of their four-team group.

If Oxtoby’s side were to win their group, they would not only earn promotion to League A but their first-round play-off would be against a side who finished second or third in League B.

Likewise, if NI were to finish second or third in their group they would face a side who finished in fourth place in League A or a Group B winner.

The second round of the play-offs are seeded, and if they progress NI would likely face League A opposition.

So, in short, should NI make the play-offs they will have to defeat two strong nations to reach a first-ever World Cup.

Northern Ireland have played all four pot one teams in recent years, with varying results.

Portugal twice ran out winners in Euro 2025 qualifying, while there were friendly defeats by Belgium ahead of Euro 2022 and by Wales the following April.

They twice beat Albania in the 2023 Nations League, and have tasted success against Luxembourg, Malta Montenegro and Latvia in the past.

The fixtures take place in windows across March, April and June, and the play-offs take place in October and November.

Pot One: Belgium, Portugal, Wales & Switzerland

Pot Two: Scotland, Czech Republic, Finland & Northern Ireland

Pot Three: Albania, Turkey, Slovakia, Israel

Pot Four: Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Latvia


BBC News

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