The week’s biggest World Cup moment comes on Thursday, when the focus turns to Switzerland for the live FIFA World Cup playoff draw.
Virgin Media Television will carry the draw live on Virgin Media Two at 12 pm, giving Irish fans the first look at the Republic of Ireland’s and Northern Ireland’s path to the finals.
The first-seeded group of teams will play at home against the fourth-seeded teams in the semi-final stage. We already know that this is likely to be Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Poland at home to Wales, Sweden, Romania and Northern Ireland.
Then the second-seeded teams play at home against the third-seeded group in the other half of the draw. So long as Austria get something from their game at home to Bosnia Herzegovina tonight, this is likely to see the Republic leapfrog Albania into the second group, so long as the adventures of the last week bump us up at least one place in the rankings over Albania.
That would mean a home tie against one of Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
But there are still a few pieces that need to happen before we know tomorrow who the potential opponents are, and then on Thursday, when the draw takes place.
Virgin Media Television will be at the heart of the action this evening as the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers enter their decisive final phase, with live coverage across Virgin Media Two and Virgin Media Three, and then again with live coverage of Thursday’s much-anticipated playoff draw.
Fresh from the Troy Parrott-inspired Republic of Ireland win on Sunday, and Northern Ireland also going into the draw after a home win against Luxembourg last night, attention now shifts to the final round of fixtures that will determine playoff seedings and shape Ireland’s route to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
They showed Germany’s 6-0 win over Slovakia last night, which eliminated that previous winner and big beast from the play-off mix.
This evening, Virgin Media Two goes live at 7 pm as Tommy Martin anchors coverage of Wales v North Macedonia, joined in studio by former internationals Damien Delaney and Richard Dunne.
Over on Virgin Media Three, live from 7.35 pm, Scotland aim to clinch direct qualification when they meet Denmark, adding further intrigue across a night packed with high-stakes football.
The results of tonight’s games between Wales and North Macedonia, and between Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, are the ones we will be watching out for most closely.
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