Northern Ireland will begin their second UEFA Women’s Nations League campaign away to Poland in February.
The fixtures for the second edition of the UEFA Women’s Nations League have now been confirmed, although the venues for the various games will likely not be finalised until early next year.
Poland are the top seeds in League B Group 1, while Tanya Oxtoby’s Northern Ireland side are the second seeds. The teams will meet in Poland on Friday 21 February.
The two other national teams in the group are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania, and Northern Ireland’s second game in B1 will be at home to the Bosnians on Tuesday 25 February.
Matchday three will see Oxtoby’s team take on Romania away on Friday 4 April. It will be part one of an April double header against the Romanians. The teams will meet again in Northern Ireland on Tuesday 8 April.
Matchday five in B1 is on Friday 30 May when Northern Ireland will welcome the Poles to these shores. And on Tuesday 3 June they will face the Bosnians away from home in their final group game.
Stage one of the UWNL second edition will determine which four teams progress to the finals from League A as well as promotion and relegation between the leagues ahead of the European Qualifiers phase for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil.
Poland are ranked 32nd in the world compared to Northern Ireland in 45th, while the Bosnians and Romanians are 63rd and 44th in the latest rankings respectively.
Like Northern Ireland, Poland have reached a play-off final for a spot at UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland.
While Northern Ireland were defeating Croatia 2-1 on aggregate in the first play-off round last month to set up a two-legged final against Norway this month, the Poles were defeating Romania 6-2 on aggregate to reach a decider against Austria.
The four winners of League B groups in stage one of UWNL 2025-26 will be promoted to League A.
The four second-placed teams will play against the third-placed teams in League A. The winner of each tie will play in League A, while the defeated teams will play in League B.
The two best third-placed teams play off against the two best-ranked second-placed teams of League C. The winners will play in League B for the European Qualifiers phase, and the defeated teams will play in League C.
The two lowest-ranked third-placed teams and the four fourth-placed teams will be relegated to League C.
All promotion/relegation play-offs (two legs) will be staged between 22 and 28 October next year.
Matches in the European Qualifiers phase for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil will be played in 2026.
