After this afternoon’s World Cup playoff draw at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, the Republic of Ireland now know who they must beat in order to reach their first World Cup since 2002.
Ireland were drawn in Pot D of today’s draw, and they’ll face Czechia away from home in the semi-final. Should Heimir Hallgrimsson’s team prevail in Prague, they have the mouth-watering proposition of a home final against the winners between Denmark and North Macedonia.
We will face Czechia in the FIFA World Cup 26 Qualifying Play-Off Semi-Final
If we progress through our Semi-Final tie we will face Denmark or North Macedonia at home in a Play-Off Final at the Aviva Stadium
v | Thu 26th March 2026
v / | Tue 31st March 2026 pic.twitter.com/UgjRkVYEcC
— Ireland Football ⚽️ (@IrelandFootball) November 20, 2025
March’s meeting at the Stadion Letna will be the ninth meeting of the two nations. Czechia have won four, Ireland have won two, and there have been two draws.
The side’s last meeting was an international friendly in February 2012, when a late equaliser from cult-hero Simon Cox sealed a draw for Ireland.
A win for Ireland could potentially set up a winner-takes-all one-off game against Denmark in Dublin. In that case, Ireland will be looking for revenge, as the last time we reached this stage of World Cup qualification, we were thumped 5-1 by the Danes in 2017.
For Ireland to be in this position at all would have been unfeasible just a week ago. That was until Troy Parrott’s ‘Roy of the Rovers’ week fired the side to two unlikely wins against Portugal and Hungary.
“Czechia is a tough place to go, but anything can happen,” said manager Heimir Hallgrimsson in the wake of Thursday’s draw.
Czechia finished second in Group L of qualifying on 16 points, only behind Croatia. Unfortunately, they are an extremely hard side to beat at home, going unbeaten in Prague.
They conceded just one goal at the Stadion Letna, scoring ten goals in the process.