How draw works

When is it on?

At 1pm Irish time (2pm local)

How many teams are in it?

Eight, with four seeded and four unseeded based on the latest FIFA rankings. The seeded teams are Switzerland (11), Italy (15), Croatia (18) and Denmark (19). The unseeded sides are Northern Ireland (23), Sweden (25), Ireland (26) and Greece (47).

Are seeded teams at home second? No. When the draw starts, a team will be drawn from pot 1 (seeded) and another from pot 2 (unseeded) and both balls will be placed into a third spot. Then the team drawn first will be at home in the first leg.

When will the matches be played? The first legs will be played between Thursday, November 9, and Saturday, November 11, with the second legs between Sunday, November 12, and Tuesday, November 14. TV companies have an input in to which matches take place on each date. Thursday-Sunday, Friday-Monday and Saturday-Tuesday are the options.

Will the Ireland v South Africa rugby game in Dublin on Saturday, November 11, affect Ireland’s schedule?

Yes. If Ireland are at home first, they will have to play on November 9 or November 10 and be away on the Sunday or Monday. If they are drawn at home second, they may wish to play that match on Tuesday, November 14, to allow the pitch to recover. In that event, the away leg would be on the Saturday.

Daniel McDonnell