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Football

20th Nov 2025

Ireland discover World Cup play-off semi-final and potential final opponents

Colman Stanley

We cannot wait!

Ireland’s route to the 2026 World Cup in North America has been confirmed this afternoon.

The European leg play-offs will be held in late March next year, with the semi-final on March 26 and final on March 31.

Ireland will take on Czechia away from home in their single-leg semi, with the victor at home to the winner of Denmark and North Macedonia in the final.

The Boys in Green’s away allocation is set to be around or lower than 1,000, as visiting supporters only get 5 per cent of tickets and Czechia’s Fortuna Arena only holds a meagre 19,370.

The rest of the draw is as follows: the winner of Italy vs Northern Ireland take on the winner of Wales vs Bosnia and Herzagovina; the winner of Ukraine vs Sweden take on the winner of Poland vs Albania; the winner of Turkey vs Romania take on the winner of Slovakia vs Kosovo.

Unfortunately, if Ireland lose their semi-final, they will have to play a friendly against one of the other losing semi-finalists.

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