Ireland to face Scotland or Austria away in World Cup play-off

The Republic of Ireland will play the winners of Scotland and Austria away from home in their 2023 World Cup play-off.

Vera Pauw's side were one of the top-three ranked sides and given a bye to the second round along with Switzerland and Iceland.

Regardless of the result from the round-one play-off, Pauw’s side (27th in the world) will be on the road against a team ranked above them in the world rankings, with Scotland sitting in 23rd, three spots above Austria.

The second-round play-off will take place on Tuesday 11 October.

The two play-off winners with the highest ranking qualify automatically for the World Cup, while the remaining play-off winner will compete in the inter-confederation play-offs.

Ireland will qualify automatically if they beat Scotland and one of Iceland and Switzerland lose their second round matches.

Scotland and Austria enjoyed similar records during their qualifying campaigns with 16 points after their results were weighted out.

Austria came from a six-team group and had two of their results ignored in the play-off table and finished second to England, while Scotland were runners-up to Spain in their group.

Ireland last played Scotland in a 2017 friendly they lost 1-0, while their most recent encounter with Austria was in a 2-0 defeat in 2015.

Round One play-off fixtures

Scotland v Austria; Wales v Bosnia-Herzegovina; Portugal v Belgium

Round Two play-off fixtures

Portugal or Belgium v Iceland; Scotland or Austria v Republic of Ireland; Switzerland v Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina