Ireland manager Martin O'Neill says he is not concerned about seedings ahead of this weekend's UEFA EURO 2016 play-off draw in Nyon, Switzerland.
The FAI has confirmed that O’Neill will attend the draw on Sunday but the Ireland boss believes that all seeded teams, as well as the four unseeded teams, will each provide a challenge for the upcoming play-off games.
O’Neill said: “We’re in the play-offs now and we’ll have to wait and see what the draw brings us. I’m not going to spend the days leading up to Sunday hoping for one team over another.
“Each one of the four seeded teams will present a challenge, and the four unseeded teams also present a severe test for the top four. We're not concerned about whether we’re seeded or unseeded at this stage, and we’re confident to take on anyone.”
UEFA confirmed this morning that Ireland will be one of the four unseeded teams for Sunday's EURO 2016 play-off draw in Nyon.
With all group games now completed, and with Turkey qualifying as the best third-placed team, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Sweden and Hungary have been handed the seeding for the draw.
Ireland will go into the unseeded pot alongside Denmark, Norway and Slovenia.
There will be no preferential treatment for the seeded teams when determining the home and away legs. Instead the first side drawn will play the first leg at home.
Draw procedure (read in full here)
- The draw will determine the pairs for one fixture after the other, starting with fixture A and ending with fixture D.
- The draw starts with the seeded teams in Pot 1. One ball is drawn from Pot 1 and immediately placed in the central mixing bowl, without it being opened.
- The draw continues with the unseeded teams in Pot 2. One ball is drawn from Pot 2 and immediately placed in the central mixing bowl, without it being opened.
- The two balls placed in the central mixing bowl are shuffled. One ball is drawn from the central mixing bowl and the team drawn is placed in position 1 for fixture A. The remaining ball is drawn from the mixing bowl and the team drawn is placed in position 2 for fixture A.
- The same procedure is used to determine the pairings for fixtures B, C and finally D.
Watch the draw live on the RTÉ Player on Sunday morning at 10:15am.
Ireland's possible play-off opponents:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Top scorer: Edin Džeko (7 goals)
Qualifying record: P10 W5 D2 L3 F17 A12 Pts17
Ukraine
Top scorer: Andriy Yarmolenko (4 goals)
Qualifying record: P10 W6 D1 L3 F14 A4 Pts19
Sweden
Top scorer: Zlatan Ibrahimović (8 goals)
Qualifying record: P10 W5 D3 L2 F15 A9 Pts18
Highlights: Greece 4-3 Hungary
Hungary
Top scorer: Dániel Böde, Krisztián Németh (2 goals)
Qualifying record: P10 W4 D4 L2 F11 A9 Pts16
Ireland qualifying record:
P10 W5 D3 L2 F19 A7 Pts18
Top scorer: Robbie Keane (5 goals)
