The draw for the first-ever UEFA Women’s Nations League will be made in Switzerland today.
Vera Pauw’s Republic of Ireland team is the top-seeded side in League B with a 25 percent chance of being drawn in the same group as Northern Ireland who are in Pot 2. Each group of four teams will play each other home and away between September 20th and December 5th this year.
The Draw will be live-streamed on UEFA.com from 12:00 on Tuesday with 51 participating teams divided into three leagues on the basis of their positions in the UEFA women’s national team coefficient rankings issued after the conclusion of the group stage of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Even though the Republic of Ireland best Scotland to secure a place at the World Cup this summer, they are in League A alongside Wales, with England, France, Germany and Sweden the top-ranked teams in that division.
The seedings for League B are as follows:
Pot 1: Republic of Ireland, Poland, Czechia, Finland
Pot 2: Serbia, Slovenia, Northern Ireland, Romania
Pot 3: Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Hungary
Pot 4: Greece, Croatia, Belarus, Albania
Based on UEFA Executive Committee decisions valid at the time of the draw, Ukraine and Belarus cannot be drawn into the same group, and neither Minsk nor Kyiv would be the most attractive venues to travel to.
The four group winners from League B are promoted to League A.
The four second-placed teams play against the third-placed teams in League A. The winner of those matches will play in League A; the defeated teams will play in League B.
The three best third-placed teams play off against the three best-ranked second-placed teams of League C. The winners play in League B; the defeated teams will play in League C.
The lowest-ranked third-placed team and the four fourth-placed teams are relegated to League C.
All the finals and play-off games will be played in the last week of February 2024.
There is real importance to these games as they will form the basis of the qualification phase for the next European Championships in 2025.
Promotion to League A would mean that both Ireland teams would qualify directly by finishing in the top two of the second League A, and go into a play-off against the highest positions teams in League C if they come third or fourth.
The League B teams would face their own qualification stream before the two come together for a second-round play-off to secure a spot in Switzerland.
