The Republic of Ireland men’s national football team head into the New Year aiming to end their recent barren run in qualifiers for major tournaments.
Progressing to the 2024 European Championships will be a tough ask for Stephen Kenny’s side, who have been drawn alongside France and Netherlands in Group B.
Greece and Gibraltar complete the five-team line-up in a section that the top football betting sites predict will be dominated by the big guns.
World Cup finalists France are amongst the bookmakers’ favourites to win the tournament, while Netherlands are also expected to progress to the latter stages.
However, Ireland have shown gradual signs of improvement over the past couple of years and will fancy their chances of springing a surprise.
Euro 2024 qualifying – Ireland fixtures
- March 27 vs France (H)
- June 16 vs Greece (A)
- June 19 vs Gibraltar (H)
- September 7 – France (A)
- September 10 – Netherlands (H)
- October 13 – Greece (H)
- October 16 – Gibraltar (A)
- November 18 – Netherlands (A)
Euro 2024 qualifying – Ireland preview
Ireland have been handed a daunting opening to their qualifying campaign, with 2022 World Cup runners-up France visiting the Aviva Stadium on March 27.
Didier Deschamps’ side deservedly reached the final in Qatar, but they came up agonisingly short after an epic encounter with Argentina.
They have won eight and drawn five of their previous 17 meetings with Ireland and will be expected to pick up six points from their two group games.
However, France have thrown in an occasional dodgy result during previous qualifying campaigns and Ireland will be keen to take advantage of any slip-ups.
With Les Bleus likely to claim one of the two qualification spots, Ireland’s best hope of reaching Euro 2024 will be to finish ahead of Netherlands.
The Dutch are on par with Portugal and Belgium, both of whom Ireland have drawn with during the past couple of years.
The return of Ronald Koeman as Netherlands manager should also give Ireland encouragement they can finish in the top two in the group.
Koeman’s previous stint in charge of the Dutch national team was unimpressive and he subsequently failed miserably on his return to club football with Barcelona.
Ireland will be eyeing maximum points from their four games against Greece and Gibraltar, although they would be well advised not to underestimate the threat posed by the former team.
Greece last qualified for a major tournament in 2014, when they reached the round of 16 at the World Cup in Brazil.
They subsequently finished bottom of their Euro 2016 qualifying group, but have been extremely competitive in their last three attempts to reach major tournaments.
Despite this, Ireland are more than capable of beating Greece home and away if they produce their best form.
While finishing in the top two in the group would be the ideal result, the play-offs could offer Ireland an alternative route to Euro 2024.
However, they will hope to avoid that scenario by defeating the lower-ranked teams in their group and springing surprises against France and Netherlands.
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