Ireland to be third seeds in World Cup qualifiers

IRELAND ARE in pot three for the World Cup qualifiers, it has been confirmed.

It was widely expected the Boys in Green would be third seeds following an underwhelming Nations League campaign in which they lost twice to England and Greece and defeated Finland.

The national side have not qualified for a major tournament since Euro 2016 and were also third seeds in their most recent qualification campaign for the Euros when they were paired with France, Netherlands, Greece and Gibraltar.

The draw will be held on 13 December and live-streamed on Fifa.com and Fifa+.

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You can read more info on the draw procedures here.

Meanwhile, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team have moved up three places to 60th in the latest Fifa rankings after the most recent international window saw them beat Finland and lose to England.

You can view the rankings in full here.

UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26 seedings (ordered by FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking)

Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria

Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Türkiye, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway

Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Israel

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania

Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino