Northern Ireland will be without Joely Andrews for the first of their two UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 play-off games against Croatia this month.
Senior women’s team manager Tanya Oxtoby revealed today that the Hearts Women midfielder has not travelled with the rest of the squad to Croatia.
Providing a squad update ahead of the first of the two games against the Croatians, Oxtoby said: “Unfortunately Joely has been hit with an illness and therefore won’t be in the matchday squad for the first game but we are hoping to have her back for the second game.
“We wish her well and look forward to seeing her when we get back to Belfast.”
Northern Ireland are set to take on Croatia at the Stadion Varteks in Varazdin on Friday (25 October; 6pm BST start) before meeting them again at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park next Tuesday (29 October; 7pm).
The now 22-strong Northern Ireland squad flew out to Croatia yesterday and all the other players are fit and raring to go.
Oxtoby further revealed: “Everyone is really excited to be back together. We know how important these games are so our focus over the next few days is working hard so that we are in the best possible position to bring home a good result.
“We had our first session on the pitch yesterday and everything is going well in that regard.”
The squad have been training at the home of NK Samobor in Zagreb County over the past couple of days and will train there again tomorrow before being put through their paces at the match stadium in Varazdin on Thursday evening in preparation for the play-off game the following day.
Northern Ireland cemented their place in round one of the play-offs back in July with victories over Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-0 at home) and Malta (2-0 away) in the UEFA Women’s Nations League. They finished second behind Portugal in League B Group 3.
If Oxtoby’s team defeat the Croatians in the two-legged contest they will face the winners of the R1 tie between Norway and Albania home and away in a play-off for a slot at UEFA Women's Euro 2025 in Switzerland.
Tickets for the game against Croatia in Belfast next Tuesday are available at irishfa.com/tickets.
