IRELAND ARE in pot three for the World Cup qualifiers, it has been confirmed.
It was widely expected the Boys in Green would be third seeds following an underwhelming Nations League campaign in which they lost twice to England and Greece and defeated Finland.
The national side have not qualified for a major tournament since Euro 2016 and were also third seeds in their most recent qualification campaign for the Euros when they were paired with France, Netherlands, Greece and Gibraltar.
The draw will be held on 13 December and live-streamed on Fifa.com and Fifa+.
You can read more info on the draw procedures here.
Meanwhile, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team have moved up three places to 60th in the latest Fifa rankings after the most recent international window saw them beat Finland and lose to England.
You can view the rankings in full here.
UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26 seedings (ordered by FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking)
Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria
Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Türkiye, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway
Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Israel
Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania
Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino
Great fighter and great steal for Bellator. UFCs partnership with Reebok is turning a lot of fighters against them. Good to see Bellator getting stronger as they promote Irish lads under the Bamma banner
Donegals Joesph Duffy has left the UFC also. He refused a new contract. The Reebok deal really is screwing up the fighters earning capacity.
@Gary: Ryan Bader came out recently and said he was earning 3-4 times more at Bellator due to sponsorships than at UFC since the Reebok deal. Hopefully more follow and switch
@brucelee on the decline?? He’s top 5 and if he beat weidmen (highly likely he would have) could have got a title shot
@Ronan Barrett: he did beat Weidman
He’s on the decline but this signing is a great statement by bellator.
@Bruce Lee: Please explain how he is on the decline.
As step backwards for mousasi , bet he will be back in UFC after fight deal ends .
Hope he fights at LHW because middleweight is barren in Bellator. They have a few big name old fighters they could feed to him. Then he can get revenge on King Mo and win the belt against Bader