Vera Pauw fears qualification tweak could hurt women's game

Vera Pauw fears the proposed introduction of a tiered international qualification format will make it "virtually impossible" for countries like the Republic of Ireland to make major tournaments.

On Friday Pauw named her squad for next week's huge World Cup qualifier against Finland at Tallaght Stadium, where a win would send Ireland into the play-offs.

It's a massive night - a sellout - and though Pauw stressed her main focus was on getting the three points, she was honest about her wider concerns around the game, claiming UEFA's well-intentioned changes are fundamentally flawed.

FAI CEO Jonathan Hill is due to meet UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin on Monday to outline Ireland's worries.

"There's plans to create a first, second and third tier in the next qualification campaign, which would be detrimental for the development of the game," the Dutch woman told a press conference.

"I think we should focus on that at the moment from a policy point of view, but Jonathan Hill is dealing with that.

"The plans are, you'd have a first tier with the first 16 countries based on the UEFA coefficient, not including friendly games, which would put for example Ireland, but also Scotland and Wales, into the second tier. The [winner] of the group in the second tier, after playing for two years in the lower level, would have to play a play-off with the number two team in the top tier, without having the opportunities to play friendly games [against the strongest nations].

"That means the chance to qualify will be minimised instead of being opened for the second tier. The top teams will grow away from the rest, and that [will hurt] development of the game."

"Small changes can make big differences in that plan."

Pauw has been vocal about the need