Northern Ireland will face Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania in phase one of the second edition of the UEFA Women’s Nations League.
Tanya Oxtoby’s team will be the second seeds in League B Group 1, with Poland the top seeds.
Their opponents in the four-team B1 group were revealed in Thursday’s draw staged at UEFA HQ in Nyon, Switzerland.
Stage one of the second edition will determine which four teams progress to the finals from League A as well as promotion and relegation between the leagues ahead of the European Qualifiers phase for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Games in the league phase of the competition will get under way in February.
Poland are ranked 32nd in the world compared to Northern Ireland in 45th, while the Bosnians and Romanians are 63rd and 44th in the latest rankings respectively.
Like Northern Ireland, Poland have reached a play-off final for a spot at UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland.
While Northern Ireland were defeating Croatia 2-1 on aggregate in the first play-off round last month to set up a two-legged final against Norway this month, the Poles were defeating Romania 6-2 on aggregate to reach a decider against Austria.
The four winners of League B groups in stage one of the UWNL 2025-26 will be promoted to League A.
The four second-placed teams will play against the third-placed teams in League A. The winner of each tie will play in League A, while the defeated teams will play in League B.
The two best third-placed teams play off against the two best-ranked second-placed teams of League C. The winners will play in League B for the European Qualifiers phase, and the defeated teams will play in League C.
The two lowest-ranked third-placed teams and the four fourth-placed teams will be relegated to League C.
Matchdays 1 and 2 for League B, and for the 16 teams in League A and the 21 teams in League C (including Gibraltar and Liechtenstein for the first time), will be between 19 and 26 February next year.
Matchdays 3 and 4 are scheduled to be staged from 2-8 April and MD 5/6 between 28 May and 3 June.
In addition all promotion/relegation play-offs (two legs) will be staged between 22 and 28 October.
Matches in the European Qualifiers phase for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil will be played in 2026.
Former England international Fara Williams draws out the card of Northern Ireland during the UEFA Women’s Nations League 2025-26 league phase draw at UEFA HQ in Switzerland
The Republic of Ireland will face Turkey, Slovenia and Greece. England have drawn their World Cup final conquerors Spain, Belgium and Portugal, Scotland face Germany, the Netherlands and Austria while Wales will play Italy, Denmark and Sweden.
Matchdays 1 & 2: Between 19 and 26 February 2025
Matchdays 3 & 4: Between 2 and 8 April 2025
Matchdays 5 & 6: Between 28 May and 3 June 2025
