IRELAND HAVE BEEN drawn against Bulgaria in their promotion/relegation play-off in the Nations League.
The Nations League has now expanded so that teams finishing third in their group must play-off across two legs against a runner-up from the league below to secure their status.
Having finished third in their League B group, Ireland must now beat Bulgaria over two legs next year to secure their status.
The sides last met in the 2020 Nations League campaign: the teams drew 1-1 in Sofia before drawing 0-0 in Dublin.
Bulgaria finished second behind Northern Ireland in their Nations League group, and ahead of Belarus and Luxembourg. Bulgaria won two of their six games – at home to Northern Ireland and away to Luxembourg – but were hammered 5-0 in Belfast.
They are ranked 84th in the Fifa rankings, 21 places below Ireland. By drawing Bulgaria, Ireland avoided the toughest opponent in Slovakia, who were the only possible opponent ranked above Ireland in Fifa’s standings.
Slovakia were paired with Slovenia, while Georgia will face Armenia and Iceland will play Kosovo.
The games will be on Thursday 20 and Sunday 23 March next year. Ireland will be at home for the second leg. The first leg will be held in Plovdiv.
Elsewhere in the League A/B play-offs, Scotland will have to beat Greece over two legs to secure their League A status. Belgium will face Ukraine, Hungary have been pitted against Turkiye, and Austria will play Serbia.
Meanwhile, the Nations League has been further expanded to include quarter-finals among the sides that finished in the top two of their respective groups in League A.
Netherlands will face title holders Spain, Croatia have been drawn against France, Denmark have been paired with Portugal, while Italy will square off against Germany.
These quarter-finals will also be played in March, with the semi-finals and final fixed for June.
The winners of Italy/Germany will face Netherlands or Spain. Denmark or Portugal, therefore will face either Croatia or France.
League B/C play-offs
- Ireland vs Bulgaria
- Slovenia vs Slovakia
- Georgia vs Armenia
- Iceland vs Kosovo
Nations League quarter-finals
- Netherlands vs Spain
- Croatia vs France
- Denmark vs Portugal
- Italy vs Germany
League A/B play-offs
- Turkiye vs Hungary
- Ukraine vs Belgium
- Austria vs Serbia
- Greece vs Scotland
League C/D play-offs*
- Gibraltar vs Latvia
- Malta vs Luxembourg
*all play-offs to be played in March 2025, aside from League C/D, which will take place in March 2026.
Northern Ireland beat Bulgaria 5-0 last month in the group stage. Surely we can prevail here over 2 legs. Probably the easiest of the 4 possible opponents. Bulgaria have fallen so far from the great team they had in the ‘90’s.
Happy with that draw.
@Daire Cathal Greene: I’d imagine Bulgaria are too.
Slovakia were the one to avoid. If we lose over two legs to Bulgaria then we deserve to be in league c.
Sofia in the Spring should be nice enough
@lesidees: maybe combine it with a trip to Rome for the rugby
@lesidees: ….there’s a man with his priorities right…
That’s a decent draw – happy to avoid Slovakia and Kosovo. We are definitely a bit better than we were in 2020 as well, so you’d like to think that we will get results against the Bulgarians this time around and stay in League B.
Decent draw.
Is the fact we’re guaranteed being in a 4 team WC qualifying group bad though?
Glorified friendlies, nobody cares
@burrito girl: Wouldn’t agree. It’s important to win and stay in league B so we get to play higher standard teams when the leagues are on next.
@burrito girl: stick to the burritos girl