Northern Ireland have been drawn alongside Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania in Group B1 of next year’s UEFA Women’s Nations League.
Tanya Oxtoby’s side will fancy their chances of earning promotion from a challenging group, but one that offers potential, where the Poles will be considerable favourites to top it but the possibility of a Play-Off is not out of Northern Ireland’s reach.
Northern Ireland remained in League B for next year’s tournament after finishing third in last year’s group with the Republic of Ireland, Hungary and Albania, needing to beat Montenegro 3-1 over two legs in a Play-Off to stay in the second division.
But they will now set their sights on moving up to the top flight for 2027 against familiar opposition in Bosnia, whom they were paired with in their Euro 2025 qualifying group, and two tough opponents in Poland and Romania.
Poland will be the clear favourites as the highest ranked side in the group at 32nd in the FIFA world rankings, and they will have a chip on their shoulder having topped their Nations League group last year only to fail to earn promotion due to their poor Euro 2025 qualifying campaign.
Nina Patalon’s side are currently preparing for a Play-Off against Austria for a place in Switzerland next year and boast the likes of Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor, Paris St-Germain duo Oliwia Szperkowska and Paulina Dudek and West Ham goalkeeper Kinga Szemik among their ranks.
Romania are currently ranked one place above Northern Ireland in the FIFA rankings and will have revenge in their sights after Poland knocked them out of Euro 2025 qualifying in their Play-Off tie last week, a result which maintained their League B status after they finished bottom of their group a year ago.
The Balkan state have never qualified for a major tournament and are short on star power, with Roma goalkeeper Camelia Ceasar the only player among their ranks to be playing in one of Europe’s top leagues.
While it is expected that Bosnia will be bringing up the rear at a relatively lowly 63rd in the world, they are no strangers to causing an upset having finished above Slovenia and Belarus in last year’s competition to finish second in their League B group, missing out on promotion to League A in a lopsided 10-0 Play-Off defeat to Sweden.
Selver Hodžić’s side may not have any household names but they will be eager to maintain their impressive Nations League form by going one better this time around, although Oxtoby will be confident they can handle their opponents after beating them twice in their Euro 2025 qualifying group, 3-1 in Zenica in April and 2-0 in Belfast in July.