WHEN IS THE DRAW?
Thursday, from 12pm Irish time, in Switzerland. Watch it live on RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/player and the RTÉ News app.
FORMAT
There are 16 teams chasing the last four European spots. The play-off consists of a semi-final and final. Each round is a single leg.
The 12 group runners-up from World Cup qualifying and the four best-performing UEFA Nations League sides that have not already qualified will be in the draw.
The 16 teams will be into four play-off paths, with four teams in each, making up two semi-finals and a final.
Each play-off path is composed of two semi-final pairings of one seeded team and one unseeded team: Pot 1 versus Pot 4 and Pot 2 versus Pot 3.
WHEN ARE THE MATCHES?
The semi-final will be on Thursday 26 March. If Ireland progress to the final, Tuesday, 31 March is the date.
AND THE OPPOSITION?
Ireland will play one of
- Poland
- Wales
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
That match will be a semi-final, with the winner advancing to a final against the winner of semi-final between a Pot 1 and a Pot 4 side.
HOW DOES THE DRAW WORK?
The 12 group runners-up have been allocated to Pots 1 to 3, with seeding based on FIFA ranking to determine the order.
Pots 1 and 2 are home teams, with 3 and 4 away sides.
Ireland are in Pot 3.
WHY POT 3?
Ireland are 59th in the world after the latest FIFA rankings were published today. While we moved up from 62nd after our two wins, the Boys in Green needed to be in the top eight of the 12 runners-up based on FIFA rankings.
We have just missed out with Ireland in ninth. Slovakia were the nearest at 45th in the world.
For what it's worth, Poland are 31st and Wales are 32nd.
COULD IRELAND PLAY AT HOME?
Ireland will be away in their semi-final. This is because Pots 1 and 2 have been given home advantage because of their better ranking.
We could be at home in the final. There will be a draw for the home finalists, also on Thursday, following the semi-final draw. One semi-final tie from each of the four paths will be selected as a home finalist, so it isn't based on ranking. Luck will be a factor here.
AND TICKETS?
For the semi-final, it will be tricky. Some of the nations have significantly smaller venues than our own. For Czech Republic and Slovakia we can expect between 1,000 and 2,000 tickets for away fans. It will require a good record of travelling to away matches to be eligible. Wales may offer 3,500, which is what they did for our previous game at the Cardiff City Stadium. It remains to be seen if they are so generous this time. UEFA rules dictate a minimum of 5% of tickets should go to visiting supporters. 3,500 would represent over 10%.
Poland's Warszawa Stadion or Silesian Stadium would offer a better chance. The demand will still be huge though so regular away fans will be given priority and it will be oversubscribed.
If Ireland progress to a final and it's a home game, then tickets are in theory on sale now. FAI season ticket holders will be eligible for the game if we get there and if it is in Dublin.
Tickets for a "final" will be sold throughout the coming months if the draw makes it possible. Should Ireland not qualify, the game will instead be a friendly with another beaten semi-finalist.
Of course if we are drawn away from home in the final, you can forget about it and it's two away trips in March.
WHICH COUNTRIES WILL BE IN THE FINAL?
Pot 1 is made up of Italy, Ukraine, Turkey and Denmark. They will be drawn against a Pot 4 side which is Romania, Northern Ireland, Sweden or North Macedonia - who are the top ranked Nations League teams who have not already qualified.
The Pot 4 sides may seem stronger on paper than the ranking of some of the Pot 3 teams, yes?
That is because they qualified via the Nations League route, so they were automatically put as a Pot 4. In essence, they've been given a second chance after failing to be a runner-up in their World Cup group whilst performing well in the Nations League.
Upsets are possible as we know well, so there is no reason why it couldn't be a smaller nation in a final.
AND IF WE REACHED THE WORLD CUP?
The draw for the World Cup outright will be made on 5 December, before the play-off matches take place.
Therefore we'll know what our group would be and the cities we would play in. The carrot will be well and truly dangled. Tickets will even be on sale.
A total of 48 teams are competing in the 2026 World Cup, divided into 12 groups of four.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
