Wales women will play Slovakia in the first round of the UEFA EURO 2025 qualification play-off first round, with the winner then facing either the Republic of Ireland or Georgia for a place at next summer’s UEFA EURO 2025 in Switzerland.

Wales, who confirmed their place as a seeded team in the first round of the play-offs with a 2-0 win over Kosovo on Tuesday, will play Slovakia away from home on October 23rd, with the second leg scheduled for a week later.

If Wales progress from the first round against Slovakia, they will face either the Republic of Ireland or Georgia in the final round of qualifying for EURO 2025.

The round two play-offs will be played on November 27th and December 3rd.

The FAW confirmed this week that Wales would play their home play-off games at the Cardiff City Stadium, having played two of their group games at Parc y Scarlets and the other at Cae Ras, in Wrexham..

Wales won their group in path B, giving them a seeded place in Friday’s draw. With seven places still up for grabs at EURO 2025, Wales are only four matches away from their first major tournament in history.

The Kosovo victory was also notable for Jess Fishlock’s record breaking goal that took her past Helen Ward as the top scorer in Wales history. Fishlock, who captained the side in the reverse fixture in Kosovo, has announced she will retire from international duty after this campaign.

Qualification a ‘marathon’

“We have four more games, hopefully,” said Wilkinson following the draw.

“We have to get through the first round and then the next round with two more. It is a marathon. People forget I had two weeks before our first qualifying games just working for results and now what I’m loving is seeing the team start to express themselves. The real freedom on the field, knowing that we’ve got to be better every single game. We’ve got to be better because we’re hoping to make history.

“They’ve had some heartbreaks in the past and that’s tough. They bring that with them, but that is why I think it’s so important that we’ve got a wonderful mix of senior experience, but also a lot of youth, and the naivety of youth is pretty special. They don’t have those scars, they have the eternal optimism that we need.

“I have said to the team that we’re going to need the experienced players to step-up and lead, and we’re going to need our young players to show up and give us the kick when we need it because they don’t have any scarring. This is just a really exciting opportunity for them and they’re going to need each other if we’re going to be successful.”

‘We have to keep true to who we are’

“We’ll absolutely watch all the opposition,” Wilkinson added.

“I have an incredible team around me, so we all know our roles and we all know our strengths. It’s great to now know the path, but of course we’ve got a challenge in Slovakia home and away to take care of before we look any further.

“I think the two experiences of lots of goal scoring, but also a few challenging games where we’ve had to really grind out results have meant that the team is best placed to to make sure we’re ready for whatever we face in the coming games. We have to keep true to who we are and what I believe in as a coach, while also not being naive to the opposition strengths that we need to take care of.”

First round play-offs

Path 1 – League C v League A

Romania v Poland

Greece v Belgium

Montenegro v Finland

Georgia v Republic of Ireland

Slovenia v Austria

Luxembourg v Sweden

Belarus v Czech Republic

Albania v Norway

Path 2 – League B

Turkey v Ukraine

Croatia v Northern Ireland

Bosnia & Herzegovina v Serbia

Azerbaijan v Portugal

Hungary v Scotland

Slovakia v Wales

Second round play-offs

Azerbaijan or Portugal v Belarus or Czech Republic

Hungary or Scotland v Montenegro or Finland

Turkey or Ukraine v Greece or Belgium

Slovakia or Wales v Georgia or Republic of Ireland

Romania or Poland v Slovenia or Austria

Croatia or Northern Ireland v Albania or Norway

Bosnia & Herzegovina or Serbia v Luxembourg or Sweden