World Cup play-offs explained: Who could Northern Ireland and Rep of Ireland face?
Written by News on 10/10/2017
Who is set to reach the World Cup play-offs in Europe? How does the format work? And could Northern Ireland and the Republic be drawn together? We take a look here.
Scotland missed out after slipping to third behind Slovakia in Group F but Northern Ireland’s spot in the play-offs is guaranteed and the Republic of Ireland squeezed in at the expense of Wales, thanks to a 1-0 win on Monday.
The sides with one last shot at reaching the Russia finals will be confirmed when the group stage concludes on Tuesday evening but who could face who? Here we explain the format…
How do the play-offs work?
Only eight of the nine teams who finish second are eligible for a play-off spot, meaning one team with the least amount of points will miss out. Results against the bottom-ranked side in each group do not count in the final play-off standings and Slovakia are currently set to miss out.
Eight runners-up will then be drawn into four pairings, with two-legged play-off ties set for November 9-11 and 12-14, 2017.
The away goals rule will be used to determine a winner of the ties if scores are level after the second leg – whether after 90 minutes or extra time – and four play-off winners will advance to Russia 2018.
FIFA has confirmed that teams will be seeded for the draw on October 17, with the top four teams according to the FIFA rankings in one pot for and the remaining four in another.
- Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Rep of Ireland, Croatia, and Northern Ireland have all reached the play-offs
- But Portugal could yet leapfrog Switzerland in Group B when the two meet on Tuesday
- Greece will confirm a play-off spot with victory over Gibraltar
- Sweden will hope Group A leaders France slip up at home to Belarus
- Netherlands can only overtake Sweden in Group A if they win by seven clear goals
Who will be seeded?
The draw will be based on four seeded teams, four unseeded teams and their world ranking. If these were to be taken today, Northern Ireland would be seeded, with Republic of Ireland unseeded.
That’s because Northern Ireland, ranked 20th in the world, are fourth out of the current eight occupants of the play-off spots, while the Republic are seventh.
However, with the draw taking place on October 17, the day after the next release of world rankings, Northern Ireland will drop below Denmark (currently 26th) in time for the draw.
Could Northern Ireland face the Republic?
If France beat Belarus on Tuesday and Netherlands fail to overturn a seven-goal difference against Sweden, the four unseeded play-off teams would be Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would therefore not face each other in the November play-offs.
Instead, as things stand, either team could face Italy, Croatia, Denmark and either Portugal or Switzerland.
(c) Sky News 2017: World Cup play-offs explained: Who could Northern Ireland and Rep of Ireland face?
