In the draw for the Euro 2024 qualifiers Ireland didn’t get much good fortune with their opponents from Pots 1 and 2 – getting placed in a group alongside Netherlands and France, so perhaps we are due a slice of good luck today.
Okay, just under 15 minutes to go. And just realised it’s Friday the 13th, so what can go wrong? Let’s put ‘em under pressure…..
Any chance Uefa have called up the king of draws to help out this morning? Nobody has ever nailed a football draw quite like Rod Stewart nailed it. Iconic
Muireann Duffy has put together a list of everything you need to know about the draw, which is just over half an hour away now. The excitement!!!!!!
Here’s a closer look by David Gorman on today’s draw and what potentially awaits Ireland.
[ 2026 World Cup draw: Ireland’s path looks complicated, good luck would be welcomeOpens in new window ]
Good morning and thanks for joining us ahead of today’s eagerly anticipated draw (It is eagerly anticipated, right?) It’s Gordon Manning here, I’ll be blogging the draw live so please stick around as we find out who Ireland will face in their bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
A Friday morning blog on a football draw, a few weeks before Christmas, is the important stuff in life. So, if you are meant to be working right now and this is impacting on your productivity levels, just remember you didn’t spend hours out in the back garden as a kid dreaming of spreadsheets – you were pretending to be Ray Houghton or Roy Keane or somebody else in green scoring the winning goal in a World Cup.
And if your output levels are questioned this afternoon, just remind your boss that my sports editor deems this to be work……..
Here’s a look at the pots ahead of the draw, which is due to begin at 11am.
Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria.
Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia, Norway.
Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel.
Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania.
Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino.