EILEEN GLEESON’S IRELAND side has been drawn against France, European champions England and Sweden in League A, Group A3 of the Women’s European Qualifiers.
The Girls in Green will face a tough task to make it to the finals in 2025 in Switzerland.
The home-and-away fixtures will take place in April, June and July and will decide the qualification places and play-off berths. The top two teams will qualify directly for next summer’s finals tournament, with the third and fourth placed sides proceeding to play-offs from October.
Prior to last week’s 2-0 defeat to Wales, Ireland had been unbeaten since the World Cup: a 2-1 loss to Canada following a narrow opening reversal to Australia.
After the exit of Vera Pauw, Eileen Gleeson took the managerial role as an interim position, but positive results in the Nations League left the decision to make her permanent an easy one.
Ireland were in Pot 4 for today’s draw. They now join the teams ranked third, fourth and fifth in the world in Group A3. For context, Ireland are 24th.
France were the second-highest top seeds they could have drawn, behind world champions Spain.
England are the reigning European champions, and runners-up from last summer’s World Cup. Sweden are the Olympic champions. All three sides were semi-finalists at Euro 2022.
The seedings for the draw were directly linked to recent Nations League form. England finished second in their group, so were among the standout teams in Pot 2, while Sweden were consigned to play-offs to retain their League A status.
“There’s no getting away from it, it is probably the hardest group any Irish side has been placed in before,” Ireland head coach Eileen Gleeson said after the draw.
“And that’s the general feeling around the auditorium as well, I got plenty of looks from other coaches with relief on their faces. It is what it is. It’s basically a Euro semi-final for us in every game. It’s a challenge, there is excitement.”
Fixture details will be confirmed tomorrow.
The full Euro 2025 qualifying draw is as follows:
LEAGUE A
Group A1
Group A2
Group A3
Group A4
LEAGUE B
Group B1
Group B2
Group B3
Group B4
LEAGUE C
Group C1
Group C2
Group C3
Group C4
Group C5
- Additional reporting from Emma Duffy.
Written by Declan Bogue and posted on the42.ie. The Journal publishes the biggest breaking news in Irish and international sport but for all of The 42′s insightful analysis and sharp sportswriting, subscribe here.
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