IRELAND HAVE BEEN drawn against Ukraine, Scotland and Armenia in Group B1 of the 2022 Uefa Nations League.
Both Scotland and Ukraine finished second in their World Cup qualification campaigns and will face each other in the play-off semi final next March.
Scotland finished runners-up in their group to Denmark, while Ukraine finished behind France and a point ahead of Finland in spite of winning just two of their eight games.
Armenia, meanwhile, were the lowest-ranked side in the draw, per Fifa’s rankings.
It will be Ireland’s first-ever meeting with Ukraine.
The draw is relatively favourable, given Ireland were third seeds and dodged higher-ranked opponents in both of the pots above them, namely Sweden and Russia, along with Erling Haaland and Norway.
The games will take place in June and September next year. The first four games take place in a stretch from 2-14 June, with the final two games slated from 22–27 September.
The precise dates and order of fixtures are yet to be announced by Uefa.
Ireland will be promoted to League A if they top their group, and will be relegated to League C if they finish bottom. The link between the Nations League and qualifying for Euro 2024 has yet to be confirmed, but it is expected that group winners will be guaranteed a play-off for the Euros, while it’s also anticipated that seeding for the Euro 2024 qualifiers will be determined by Nations League finishing.
Having failed to qualify for the World Cup, the Nations League games are the only competitive matches Ireland will play in 2022.
The full draw for League B is below:
Elsewhere, England were drawn with Germany, Hungary, and their conquerors in the final of Euro 2020, Italy.
Wales, also in League A having topped Ireland’s group in 2020, will face Poland, Netherlands, and Belgium.
Northern Ireland were drawn against Greece, Kosovo and the winner of a March play-off between Cyprus and Estonia in League C.
You can find the draw in full here.
Speaking in October, manager Stephen Kenny said his side’s ambition is to win their group. “When personally marking out the medium to long term strategy for the team, one of the things we looked at was the Uefa nations league starting in June,” said Kenny.
“Our ambition is to win the group. We’ll be taking it extremely seriously by prioritising it.”
Kenny’s current contract expires prior to the final two Nations League games, but CEO Jonathan Hill has been delegated by the FAI board to negotiate an extension with Kenny and his staff. It is expected this extension will include the qualifying campaign for Euro 2024.
The Nations League is now in its third edition, having been introduced by Uefa in 2018 as a competitive alternative to friendly games, while pitting sides of broadly similar levels against each other.
Ireland have a horrendous record in the competition, having failed to win any of their 10 games across the previous two competitions. They have scored just twice across those games, losing five games and drawing the other five.
