Republic of Ireland placed in pot three for the Euro 2021 qualifying draw

The Republic of Ireland will once again be third seeds in the draw for Euro 2021 after UEFA confirmed the final seedings on Thursday.

Ireland were third seeds in the draw for next year’s World Cup and their final position reflected that, with a third-place finish behind European champions the Netherlands and Norway.

And they will once again be up against two better-ranked sides in their quest to capture one of the 15 available places for the finals, which are due to be held in England.

Northern Ireland, who were also in that World Cup qualifying group, are again in pot four along with Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Kazakhstan, Albania and Moldova.

The teams will be drawn into groups of five or six teams, with group winners and the best three runners-up qualifying automatically, while the remaining six will play off for the final three spots.

Ireland are currently ranked 20^th in UEFA and thus are the third highest-ranked side in pool three, missing out on pool two by just two places.

Portugal, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus and Hungary makes up the remaining teams in pot three.

Ireland will at least avoid another group of death with the Dutch and Norway as both sides are ranked in the first pool this time around.

France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland and Italy – all but the Swiss of whom qualified for the summer’s World Cup in France – make up the rest of pot one.

The draw for the qualifying stages takes place at FIFA HQ in Nyon, Switzerland on February 21^st.