Paradox in the rules: if Ireland wants to go to the EURO, it needs to lose

A loophole in the rules? More of a coincidence. Ireland are out of the running for direct qualification to the EURO, but they can still go through the barrage. To get there, however, the Irish will need to lose in November.

The Irish have lost any hope of direct qualification for the European Championships in September. The 1:2 home loss bit hard, made all the more so when the Islanders led from the fourth minute and at the same time the turnaround of the favourite meant the end of their chances of finishing in second place.

The only way they can reach the final tournament is therefore through the barrage. The top four teams from Groups A, B and C of the last edition of the Nations League, who did not secure their way to Germany through qualification, will go there.

The Irish were in the B league. They finished third in the company of Scotland, Ukraine and Armenia, and tenth overall in the table of B-League teams. These are not exactly positive prospects, which is why they have to play to lose in November.

It sounds terrible, but if the Irish flip the Dutch, it would give the Greeks a chance to leapfrog the Tulips in the table. Why would that be a problem? Because it would be the Greeks who would go straight to the tournament along with the French.

In that case, the Netherlands, as the team from Group A of the Nations League, would go to the barrier. This would take one spot away from the Irish, because if there are less than four non-qualifiers from the elite group of the Nations League, the remaining spots are taken by the non-qualifiers from the B group.

At the moment it looks like only Wales and the worse of the Poland-Czech Republic pairing will go through to the barrage from the A side. Thus, six teams from Group B can play the barrage, while in the case of non-qualification of the Netherlands one spot would be lost.

So the Irish will be dealing with a pride issue in a month’s time. The option, of course, is to play the game to the full, with the assumption that the Netherlands will confirm their role as favourites at home. Either way, the Oranje will be under pressure and who knows what could happen.

Source: UEFA, Twitter