Wales face Albania in World Cup play-offs round one

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Wales faced Albania in their League B Group 1 qualifying campaign, winning both home and away

ByIan HuntBBC Sport Wales

Published20 minutes ago

Wales will have to beat Albania and then either Romania or Norway in successive two-legged play-off ties if they are to reach the 2027 Women's World Cup.

Rhian Wilkinson's side were in the same group as Albania in their qualifying campaign - winning 4-0 in Wrexham and 1-0 away from home.

Wales, who topped League B Group 1 ahead of the Czech Republic, will be away in the first leg of round one before hosting the Albanians - who finished third in the group - in the second leg.

Should they win that tie on aggregate, Wales will then play the winners of the match between Romania and Norway, who are managed by former Wales boss Gemma Grainger.

Wilkinson's side will be away from home in the second leg should they make it through to round two.

Analysis

And there we have it: Wales will almost certainly have to beat a top-20 side for the first time in a competitive game if they're to reach their first World Cup finals.

Assuming Wales get past Albania, they'd expect to come up against Norway in round two... unless Romania can pull off a big shock and make a mockery of the 39 places between those two teams in the world rankings.

Wales were beaten home and away by Norway the last time the sides met - in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2022.

Norway are currently 14th in the world having come second to Germany in their qualifying group.

It's a big challenge, but by no means impossible for Wales. One I'm sure head coach Wilkinson will embrace as she bids to get Wales to the second major tournament in their history.