Nations League could offer Ireland ticket to the LA Games

Girls in Green to learn Nations League fate with ticket to LA Olympics up for grabs

Updated / Monday, 2 Nov 2026 13:45

The draw for the 2027 UEFA Women's Nations League takes place at midday on Tuesday, and it could be the start of the Republic of Ireland's journey to the LA Olympic Games.

Carla Ward's side will take on Poland in a two-legged World Cup play-off final in December having breezed past Kazakhstan last month. The Girls in Green travel to Gdansk on Tuesday, 1 December, before hosting the return game at Aviva Stadium four days later.

Ireland were excellent in League A of World Cup qualifying, beating the Poles twice and the Netherlands in Cork to finish third in the the group. That means the Girls in Green will be in League A of the next Nations League, which begins in February. League A features Europe's top 16 countries divided into four seeded pots of four teams.

Ireland, ranked ninth in Europe, will be third seeds.

If they were to win their four-team group, they would progress to the semi-final stage of the Nations League Finals, and therefore achieve a historic qualification for the 2028 Olympics. The women's Olympics soccer tournament has been expanded to 16 teams, with four European spots up for grabs.

While the men's competition is primarily for Under-23s (each country is allowed just three overage players), there is no age limit for the women's event.

England are the team nominated to represent Team Great Britain. Scotland and Wales (both in Pot 4) cannot be drawn into the same group as the Lionesses (Pot 2).

If Ireland are pitted against England, neither the Scots or Welsh can join that group.

Ward's immediate focus will be on that Polish showdown as Ireland attempt to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup having made the breakthrough under Vera Pauw in 2023.

It would be a seismic achievement, and lead to an intense schedule in the run-up to the tournament in Brazil. The current Nations League fixture list has the final two games down for 7 and 15 June. The World Cup begins on 24 June, so Ireland would have a very tight window to travel to South America and tune up for the competition.

In 2023 Pauw's squad flew Down Under on Friday 7 July, 13 days before their opener against co-hosts Australia.

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Republic of Ireland potential Nations League opponents

From Pot 1: Spain, Germany, France, Denmark
From Pot 2: England, Norway, Netherlands, Italy
From Pot 4: Switzerland, Portugal, Scotland, Wales

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