Wales announce Dublin friendly against Republic of Ireland

Wales’ first game following the departure of coach Gemma Grainger earlier this month, will be a friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

Grainger, who had been in charge of the side since March 2021, quit her position two weeks ago to take on the head coaching role with Norway.

Following the departure of Grainger, interim head coach Jon Grey will oversee proceedings for the fixture against Ireland, who are ranked 24th in the world and reached the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals last summer.

The game, which will take place at Shamrock Rovers’ Tallaght Stadium, on Tuesday 27 February, is part of the preparations for the upcoming UEFA Women’s European 2025 qualifying campaign.

Test

Grey said: “The Republic of Ireland are eight places above us in the world rankings which will benefit us because we always want to play and test ourselves against higher-ranked nations.

“We’ve taken plenty of learnings away from our first Nations League campaign and we’ll look to build on these heading into this friendly fixture and beyond.

“The 2025 Women’s Euro qualifying draw takes place in early March and hopefully this camp will help get the players in the best place possible for the start of the upcoming qualifying campaign.”

Former Leeds and Middlesbrough manager Grainger was coach of various England age groups before being appointed Wales boss.

The 41-year-old spent nearly three years in charge of Wales and guided them to the brink of qualification for the 2023 Women’s World Cup when they lost out to a last-minute goal in the play-off final against Switzerland.

Her final match in charge was a 0-0 draw in the Nations League against Germany in Swansea in December.