Women's European Qualifiers play-off draw

The Women's European Qualifiers play-off draw, made in Nyon by UEFA managing director of women's football Nadine Kessler and former Swiss international Sandy Maendly, has set the ties for two rounds of two-legged contests, as 28 teams compete for the last seven finals slots at UEFA Women's EURO 2025 in Switzerland from 2 to 27 July next year.

Round 1 will be played between 23 and 29 October, and round 2 between 27 November and 3 December.

The seven round 2 winners will join hosts Switzerland and direct qualifiers Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain in the 16 December finals draw in Lausanne.

The draw results on the big screen in NyonUEFA via Getty Images

How the play-off draw worked

Following the conclusion of the qualifying league stage on 16 July, nine teams were confirmed in the final tournament: hosts Switzerland and the teams that finished in the top two positions in each of the four League A groups. The play-offs will determine the remaining seven berths, with 28 teams involved, playing two rounds of home-and-away ties.

Round 1: Path 1

The first round of the play-offs (played between 23 and 29 October) is split into two paths. In one path, the teams finishing third and fourth in League A will play the five group winners and three best-ranked runners-up in League C. The eight winners progress to the second round.

Eight balls containing the names of the eight seeded teams (from League A) were placed in one bowl and eight balls containing the names of the eight unseeded teams (from League C) placed in another bowl.

A ball was drawn from the bowl containing the unseeded teams and the team drawn was placed as the home team in the first tie, meaning it will play the first leg of the tie at home.

A ball was drawn from the bowl containing the seeded teams and the team drawn was placed as the away team in that tie.

The draw continued in a similar way until all 16 balls had been drawn and all eight ties completed.

Round 1: Path 2

Play-off path 2 was adjusted as necessary to take into account the performance of Women's EURO hosts Switzerland, who competed in League B but are guaranteed a slot in the final tournament.

As Switzerland finished as a League B winner, the best-ranked fourth-placed team of League B (Azerbaijan) completed the round 1 path 2 play-off line-up, and the draw seeding for the six ties was adjusted accordingly.

The three group winners (other than Switzerland) and three best-ranked runners-up in League B were drawn into six ties against the remaining play-off contenders from League B. The six winners progress to the second round.

Six balls containing the names of the six seeded teams were placed in one bowl and six balls containing the names of the six unseeded teams were placed in another bowl.

A ball was drawn from the bowl containing the unseeded teams and the team drawn was placed as the home team in the tie, meaning it will play the first leg of the tie at home.

A ball was drawn from the bowl containing the seeded teams and the team drawn was placed as the away team in that tie.

The draw continued in a similar way until all 12 balls had been drawn and all six ties completed.

Round 2

In the second round (played between 27 November and 3 December), the teams from both paths come together and are drawn into seven ties, with seeding for the seven highest-ranked teams based on the European Qualifiers overall league rankings. The seven winners progress to the final tournament.

Seven balls containing the round 1 ties involving the seven highest-ranked teams (seeded) were placed in one bowl and seven balls containing the remaining round 1 ties (unseeded) were placed in another bowl.

A ball was drawn from the bowl containing the unseeded round 1 ties and the round 1 tie drawn was placed as the home 'team' in the first tie, meaning the winner of this round 1 tie will play the first leg of the round 2 tie at home.

A ball was drawn from the bowl containing the seeded round 1 ties and the round 1 tie drawn was placed as the away 'team' in that tie.

The draw continued in a similar way until all 14 balls had been drawn and all seven ties completed.

Based on the UEFA Executive Committee decisions valid at the time of the draw, the following teams could not be drawn together: Belarus and Ukraine.

If a prohibited clash occurred, or could occur, the team drawn was to be automatically transferred to become the away team of the next tie, and another team was to be drawn from the same bowl into the free position of the current tie, ensuring each tie was composed of one seeded and one unseeded team.

Similarly, when completing the next tie, the home team was to be drawn from the relevant bowl in order to respect the seeding principles. Should a prohibited clash have been possible when drawing the last ties, the teams were to be drawn and assigned to the ties.