The Republic of Ireland's journey to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico has been laid out following the play-off draw held in Zurich. Ireland, who finished second in their UEFA qualifying group behind Portugal, now know the path they must navigate to secure a coveted spot in the expanded 48-team tournament.
The Boys in Green will face the Czech Republic in a single-leg semi-final tie to be played on March 26th. The venue for this crucial match will be away in Czech Republic.
If Ireland overcomes the Czech challenge, they will advance to a final play-off match on March 31st. This decisive game would be at home in Dublin against either Denmark or North Macedonia. Denmark, who finished as runners-up in their qualifying group, will be favourites to progress against North Macedonia.
Sixteen teams are participating in the European play-offs: the 12 runners-up from the European Qualifiers group stage, and four teams that qualified via the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League. The play-offs consist of single-leg knockout matches. Each play-off path has two semi-final pairings of one seeded team and one unseeded team. The semi-finals will take place on March 26, and the finals on March 31, 2026.
The Republic of Ireland finds itself in Pot 3 for the play-off draw. Their potential opponents in Pot 2 were Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Other teams in the play-offs include Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, and North Macedonia.
For the first time, 16 European teams will participate in the World Cup, a result of the tournament's expansion. Twelve places are reserved for UEFA qualifying group winners, with the remaining four decided through the play-offs.
Ireland's qualification campaign saw them finish second in Group F behind Portugal. A late 3-2 win against Hungary, thanks to a Troy Parrott hat-trick, secured their play-off spot. The confirmed fixture schedule saw Ireland begin their qualifying campaign with a home game against Hungary on September 6th, followed by a trip to Armenia on September 9th. October featured a match against either Portugal or Denmark and a home game against Armenia. The campaign concluded in November with a home game against Portugal or Denmark and a final match against Hungary.
The road to the World Cup is now clearly defined. If Ireland are to reach their first World Cup since 2002, they will need to overcome the Czech Republic away and then win a home final against either Denmark or North Macedonia.
