With Cymru drawing 0-0 with Slovenia tonight it means they progress to the knock out stages along with Republic of Ireland and Scotland - Matches to be held end of October. England already qualified for the finals. Finals July-August 2023 in Australia/New Zealand.
How do the play-offs work? The runners-up from all nine qualifying groups will compete in a two-round play-off series. The three best runners-up (based on results against the sides ranked first, third, fourth and fifth in their section) will be seeded directly to round two of the play-offs. The remaining six runners-up will compete across three single-leg ties in round one of the play-offs. Ties will be decided via a draw, with no seeding. The first team drawn in each tie will play at home. The three winners of the first round will then contest the three teams originally seeded directly to round two. Again, ties will be decided via a draw, with no seeding. The first team drawn in each tie will play at home. The two play-off winners with the highest ranking (based on results in the qualifying group stage and round two play-offs) will qualify for the World Cup. The play-off winner with the third-highest ranking will compete in a separate 10-team inter-confederation play-off series in New Zealand next year. Hope you can make sense of this ! 12,000 + watched the Cymru-Slovenia match - compared with 1200 for the first World Cup Cymru match v Kazakhstan earlier this year,
