How do the Euro qualifying play-offs work?

Caroline Weir of Scotland in action during the Women's International Friendly between Scotland and Costa Rica at Hampden Park on April 11, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Caroline Weir is back in a Scotland shirt after recover from an ACL injury (Image credit: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Euro qualifying play-offs second round begins Thursday evening with teams like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all competing for qualification.

There will be home and away ties for each of the play-offs and the winner, on aggregate, after both of those games will qualify.

But how were teams matched together? And how do they qualify for the 2025 Women's Euros next year? Here is all you need to know.

Euro qualifying play-offs: How do they work?

Katie McCabe #11 of Ireland during the Republic of Ireland V England, UEFA Women's European 2025 Qualifying match at Aviva Stadium on April 9th, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland.

Katie McCabe will be hoping to aid her team to the tournament next year (Image credit: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Teams have already been through one round of play-offs and they were drawn together. Teams who played in League A for the initial qualifiers but did not secure automatic qualification were seeded and drawn into ties against teams who competed in League C.

The top six teams in League B were drawn against the bottom six teams in League B.

Jessica Fishlock of Wales celebrates scoring her team's first goal during the UEFA EURO 2025 Women's Qualifiers match between Wales and Croatia at Racecourse Ground on April 05, 2024 in Wrexham, Wales.

Jess Fishlock is Wales' all-time goal scorer (Image credit: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

The first round draw, which took place in July, formed these fixtures and they were played in October. Here are the results on aggregate:

  • Romania 2-6 Poland
  • Greece 0-5 Belgium
  • Montenegro 0-6 Finland
  • Georgia 0-9 Republic of Ireland
  • Slovenia 1-5 Austria
  • Luxembourg 0-12 Sweden
  • Belarus 1-8 Czech Republic
  • Albania 0-14 Norway
  • Turkey 1-3 Ukraine
  • Croatia 1-2 Northern Ireland
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-6 Serbia
  • Azerbaijan 1-8 Portugal
  • Hungary 0-5 Scotland
  • Slovakia 2-3 Wales

The second round of play-offs were also drawn in July.

The first round ties which included the top seven ranked teams were drawn against the bottom seven.

The second round will take place on 28/29 November and 3 December.

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In FourFourTwo's view the second round ties will be close battles with some interesting ties.

They will also be played across two legs and the winners of those ties will qualify for next year's tournament being held in Switzerland.

Here are the second round ties:

Who has already qualified for Euro 2025?

Defending champions England were drawn in a tricky qualifying group as they were against Sweden, France and Republic of Ireland. But impressive performances, including a win over France, secured their automatic qualification.

France also made it through the difficult group to seal their spot and Switzerland were handed their ticket as they are hosts.

Nine teams have qualified so far, which are:

  • England
  • France
  • Denmark
  • Spain
  • Iceland
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Switzerland

The Euros will take place from 2-27 July 2025.

Sarah Rendell
Women's football editor

Sarah joined the FourFourTwo team in September 2024 in a freelance role. She also writes for The Guardian, BBC and Rugby World where she specialises in women's football and rugby. Sarah has a bachelors degree in English and a master's in newspaper journalism.