Wales head into a World Cup play-off final against Switzerland hoping they can secure automatic qualification for their first-ever major women's football tournament.
A win by any margin would likely see them progress to a 10-team inter-confederation play-off next February, where they would have one more match to get through to reach the 2023 Women's World Cup.
But a win by two goals in regular time and results elsewhere going their way could be enough to see Welsh football secure a second World Cup appearance in a matter of months. Follow live match updates here.
Wales will be the underdog against a Switzerland side ranked 21st in the world, nine places above Wales, but Gemma Grainger's side have shown over the last 13 months that they can do it the hard way, having reached the play-off final via an extra-time goal in the semi-final last week.
Here's everything you need to know about the game:
What time is Wales Women v Switzerland kick-off?
Switzerland host Wales Women at 6pm UK time/7pm local time on Tuesday, October 11, at the Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich.
What TV channel is Wales v Switzerland on?
Fans can watch live coverage of Wales' World Cup play-off final against Switzerland on BBC Two Wales or iPlayer from 5.45pm. You can also follow live updates on WalesOnline from Tuesday afternoon.
Members of the Red Wall will also be heading out to Zurich, cheering on from block 24 of the stadium.
What's the latest Wales team news?
There are no fresh injuries to Wales' squad after the 1-0 extra-time win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the World Cup play-off semi-final last Thursday, but Wales will once again be without centurion Natasha Harding, who has been left out of the squad for personal reasons. She was Wales' joint top scorer during the regular qualifying campaign.
Meanwhile, Wales boss Grainger is not worried that going to extra time will have an impact on her players' energy levels. "We’ve managed to get some great recovery in since the game on Thursday evening, we’re right on track for where we want to be," Grainger said. "There’s always a possibility of any changes, and we’re always ready for that, but so far we’re really pleased with the recovery we’ve had."
Grainger added that penalties have been a work-on throughout the campaign. "We haven’t just started it now," she said. "It’s a continuous area for us. If we want to be a tournament team, we know at some point there’ll be a penalty shootout. We’re right on track for that."
With Harding ruled out and Fishlock fit again, it would be a surprise to see Wales make changes for the play-off final. Fishlock is likely to once again link up with captain Sophie Ingle and Angharad James in midfield, with Ceri Holland and Carrie Jones supporting Kayleigh Green up front.
Predicted Wales team: Laura O'Sullivan, Rhiannon Roberts, Rachel Rowe, Gemma Evans, Hayley Ladd; Angharad James, Sophie Ingle, Jess Fishlock; Carrie Jones, Ceri Holland; Kayleigh Green.
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How do the World Cup play-off finals work? Who is playing?
There are three Women's World Cup play-off finals being played on the same day, although not all kick off at the same time. It means should Wales win, they may have a wait on their hands to determine their next step.
UEFA say the two play-off winners with the highest ranking (based on results in the qualifying group stage and play-off finals) will qualify automatically qualify for the World Cup. But the remaining play-off winner will need to compete in the inter-confederation play-offs in New Zealand next February.
As for how the three play-off winners are separated, they will be ranked based on results in the qualifying group stage (against the sides ranked first, third, fourth and fifth in their section) and the play-off final, with the latter offering three points for a win in regular or extra time or one point if a win comes via a penalty shootout. You can read more from UEFA here.
The three World Cup play-off finals
Tuesday, October 11, all UK kick-off times
- Switzerland v Wales, 6pm
- Portugal v Iceland, 6pm
- Scotland v Ireland, 8pm
What results do Wales need?
To automatically qualify for next year's World Cup from the play-off final, Wales need to win by two goals in regular or extra time and hope Portugal or Scotland win on penalties, though a Welsh win by any margin would more likely send them to a 10-team inter-confederation stage next February in New Zealand where Wales would have one more hurdle to jump.
As things stand ahead of the play-off finals, Wales would be the top seeds for the inter-continental playoff which would mean one competitive match out there. There would need to be a seismic shift in rankings to result in Wales needing to play two competitive play-off matches in New Zealand.
See the full Wales permutations here.
How good are Wales and Switzerland?
Wales have never qualified for a major tournament before, but came agonisingly close in their last two campaigns: for the Women's World Cup in 2019 and this summer's Euros.
This is the first time Wales have ever reached the play-offs, having won six and drawn and lost two games apiece during the normal qualifying rounds. They scored 22 goals and conceded five along the way.
Switzerland are ranked nine places above Wales (30th) and have experience of qualifying for major tournaments, their first being the 2015 World Cup when they reached the last-16.
They then missed out on the 2019 World Cup but were on the European stage this summer during the European Championship, where they were eliminated in the group stages.
Managed by Nils Nielsen, Switzerland finished second in Group G behind Italy in their World Cup qualifiers, winning eight games and losing and drawing one apiece in the process while scoring 44 goals and conceding four. They were last in action in September when they hammered Moldova 15-0 (who are ranked 111th in the world), their all-time record win.
Wales manager Grainger said of the Swiss opposition: " Switzerland are a great team. They have some great individuals who I’ve had the opportunity to see in the Euro Championship. I spent a lot of time this summer watching many of the teams in the Euros because for us as a team we want to be in that competition.
"I don’t read a lot into Switzerland’s results. I think they have played some excellent opposition. Similar to us, they’ve played a lot of higher-ranked opposition and they’ve competed for long periods of time in the game so with their mix of individuals and those competitive performances, we’re very much looking forward to playing them."
Wales 'underdogs' in Zurich
Wales' most-capped footballer Jess Fishlock, who scored the decisive goal to beat Bosnia 1-0 in extra time in the play-off semi-final, believes her side have nothing to lose in Zurich.
"The reality is we’ve allowed ourselves to go to this game on Tuesday where, as far as I’m concerned, we ain’t got nothing to lose," said the Champions League winner, who returned to Wales action last time out having been ruled out of the final qualifiers against Greece and Slovenia due to a "slight hamstring tear". It the 0-0 draw against Slovenia which secured Wales' place in the play-offs.
"We’ve never been to a World Cup before, we’ve never been in this situation before. What have we got to be scared of? What have we got to be worried about? We’re going to go and be in a situation that we’ve never been in, with no pressure — because no-one is going to expect us to win (we are) — I mean rankings, seedings, everything, the pressure is on Switzerland.
"I’m just like ‘let’s just go and enjoy it, play like we can play’. We haven’t beaten these [top] teams away, but I’ll tell you something now: if we play 50% that we played [away] against France [in a 2-0 qualifying defeat in November 2021], we’ll give them a game, I promise you that."
Grainger accepts her side may be the underdog on paper but doesn't necessarily see it that way herself. " I see us as a team that are going out there to compete and win a game. Our belief, our mentality, everything that we think about is focused on how we can compete in the game and hopefully win the game.
"On paper they are the higher-ranked team. Do we enjoy that? Yes, we do. We enjoy playing higher-ranked teams, we want to play them as much as possible.
"We control what we can, and make sure that when we leave the pitch, we are happy with everything that has happened on it.
Where is the 2023 Women's World Cup being held and who's in it?
The 2023 Women's World Cup is being jointly staged in Australia and New Zealand, from July 20 to August 20 that year. The draw will take place on October 22 this year.
There will be 32 finalists including both hosts with 11 or 12 European nations involved, while USA will be bidding for a third straight title.
2023 World Cup continental allocation (plus those qualified so far):
Hosts: 2 (Australia, New Zealand)
AFC: 5 (China, Japan, Philippines*, South Korea, Vietnam*)
CAF: 4 (Morocco*, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia*)
CONCACAF: 4 (Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, United States)
CONMEBOL: 3 (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia)
UEFA: 11 (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden)
Inter-confederation play-offs: 3
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