The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process determined 30 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand qualifying automatically.[1] It is the ninth FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football world championship tournament. The tournament is the first Women's World Cup to be hosted in multiple countries, the third by an AFC member association after the 1991 and 2007 Women's World Cups in China, the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first senior FIFA tournament in Oceania, and also the first FIFA tournament to be hosted across multiple confederations (with Australia in the AFC and New Zealand in the OFC).
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | 16 September 2021 – 23 February 2023 |
Teams | 172 (from 6 confederations) |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 505 |
Goals scored | 2,143 (4.24 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Tessa Wullaert (17 goals) |
The field was expanded from 24 teams in the 2019 edition to 32 in the 2023 edition.[2]
Of the total 32 slots (29 direct and 3 playoffs), the following teams qualified directly to fill the 29 direct slots. The remaining 3 playoff slots were determined by the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs) held in February 2023 in New Zealand.
Team | Qualified as | Qualification date | Appearance in finals |
Last appearance |
Consecutive streak |
Previous best performance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | Co-hosts | 25 June 2020 | 8th | 2019 | 8 | Quarter-finals (2007, 2011, 2015) |
New Zealand | 6th | 2019 | 5 | Group stage (1991, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) | ||
Japan | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup QF winners | 30 January 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Champions (2011) |
South Korea | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup QF winners | 30 January 2022 | 4th | 2019 | 3 | Round of 16 (2015) |
China | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup QF winners | 30 January 2022 | 8th | 2019 | 3 | Runners-up (1999) |
Philippines | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup QF winners | 30 January 2022 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Vietnam | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup play-offs winners | 6 February 2022 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Sweden | UEFA qualification Group A winners | 12 April 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Runners-up (2003) |
Spain | UEFA qualification Group B winners | 12 April 2022 | 3rd | 2019 | 3 | Round of 16 (2019) |
France | UEFA qualification Group I winners | 12 April 2022 | 5th | 2019 | 4 | 4th place (2011) |
Denmark | UEFA qualification Group E winners | 2 May 2022[a] | 5th | 2007 | 1 | Quarter-finals (1991, 1995) |
United States | 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Group A winners | 7 July 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Champions (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019) |
Canada | 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Group B winners | 8 July 2022 | 8th | 2019 | 8 | 4th place (2003) |
Costa Rica | 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Group B runners-up | 8 July 2022 | 2nd | 2015 | 1 | Group stage (2015) |
Jamaica | 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Group A runners-up | 11 July 2022 | 2nd | 2019 | 2 | Group stage (2019) |
Zambia | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations QF winners | 13 July 2022 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Morocco | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations QF winners | 13 July 2022 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Nigeria | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations QF winners | 14 July 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Quarter-finals (1999) |
South Africa | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations QF winners | 14 July 2022 | 2nd | 2019 | 2 | Group stage (2019) |
Colombia | 2022 Copa América Femenina SF winners | 25 July 2022 | 3rd | 2015 | 1 | Round of 16 (2015) |
Brazil | 2022 Copa América Femenina SF winners | 26 July 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Runners-up (2007) |
Argentina | 2022 Copa América Femenina third-place winners | 29 July 2022 | 4th | 2019 | 2 | Group stage (2003, 2007, 2019) |
Norway | UEFA qualification Group F winners | 2 September 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Champions (1995) |
Germany | UEFA qualification Group H winners | 3 September 2022 | 9th | 2019 | 9 | Champions (2003, 2007) |
England | UEFA qualification Group D winners | 3 September 2022 | 6th | 2019 | 5 | Third place (2015) |
Italy | UEFA qualification Group G winners | 6 September 2022 | 4th | 2019 | 2 | Quarter-finals (1991, 2019) |
Netherlands | UEFA qualification Group C winners | 6 September 2022 | 3rd | 2019 | 3 | Runners-up (2019) |
Switzerland | UEFA play-offs 1st ranking | 11 October 2022 | 2nd | 2015 | 1 | Round of 16 (2015) |
Republic of Ireland | UEFA play-offs 2nd ranking | 11 October 2022 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Haiti | Inter-confederation play-offs Group B winners | 22 February 2023 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Portugal | Inter-confederation play-offs Group A winners | 22 February 2023 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
Panama | Inter-confederation play-offs Group C winners | 23 February 2023 | 1st | — | 1 | Debut |
After the number of teams qualifying for the Women's World Cup was increased, a new slot allocation was approved by the Bureau of the FIFA Council on 24 December 2020. The slots for the host nations, Australia and New Zealand, were taken directly from the quotas allocated to their confederations, the AFC and OFC respectively.[5]
Qualifying matches started in September 2021 and ended in February 2023. Matches have been played on dates within the FIFA International Match Calendar.[6]
Apart from the hosts Australia and New Zealand, 207 of 209 remaining FIFA member associations could qualify through their own confederation's qualifying process if they choose to enter. The exceptions were Chad and Pakistan, whose football associations were suspended by FIFA.[7] A third exception might have been Russia after initially receiving a four-year ban from all major sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 9 December 2019, after Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) was found non-compliant for handing over manipulated laboratory data to investigators.[8] However, the Russian women's team could still enter qualification. The decision was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),[9] which ruled in WADA's favour but reduced the ban to two years.[10] The CAS ruling also allowed the name "Russia" to be displayed on uniforms if the words "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team" have equal prominence.[11] Had Russia qualified for the tournament, its female players would have been able to use their country's name, flag or anthem at the Women's World Cup, unlike their male counterparts, as the ban scheduled to expire on 16 December 2022.[11][12] But earlier on 28 February, FIFA and UEFA announced Russia's suspension from all competitions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[13][14] On 2 May, UEFA announced that Russia was no longer to continue participating in qualification, that their prior results were nullified, and that Group E continued with five teams.[15]
Confederation | Tournament | Direct slots | Play-off slots | Teams started | Teams eliminated | Teams qualified | Qualifying start date | Qualifying end date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AFC | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup | 5+1 | 2 | 27 [a] | 20 | 5+1 | 17 September 2021 | 6 February 2022 |
CAF | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations | 4 | 2 | 43 | 37 | 4 | 18 October 2021 | 23 July 2022 |
CONCACAF | 2022 CONCACAF W Championship | 4 | 2 | 32 | 26 | 4 | 16 February 2022 | 18 July 2022 |
CONMEBOL | 2022 Copa América Femenina | 3 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 8 July 2022 | 30 July 2022 |
OFC | 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup | 0+1 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 0+1 | 13 July 2022 | 30 July 2022 |
UEFA | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA) | 11 | 1 | 51 | 39 | 11 | 16 September 2021 | 11 October 2022 |
Play-offs | Inter-confederation play-offs | 3 | — | (10) | 7 | 3 | 18 February 2023 | 23 February 2023 |
Total | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification | 30+2 | 10 | 172 | 142 | 30+2 | 16 September 2021 | 23 February 2023 |
As in the previous World Cup cycle, the AFC Women's Asian Cup served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for AFC members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:
North Korea withdrew on 29 July 2021 from the Women's Asian Cup qualifiers due to COVID-19 pandemic-related safety concerns,[19] followed by Turkmenistan on 6 August because of pandemic-related travel restrictions.[20] In a letter to the AFC published on 8 September, Iraq decided not to take part.[21] Afghanistan also withdrew from qualification later in September as the women's team's participation was uncertain due to the Taliban takeover of the country.[22][23]
During the Women's Asian Cup, host team India was unable to play their second group stage match against Chinese Taipei due to having fewer than 13 players available, with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them were considered "null and void" and were not considered in determining the final group rankings.[24]
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
30 January – Navi Mumbai | ||||||||||
China | 3 | |||||||||
3 February – Pune | ||||||||||
Vietnam | 1 | |||||||||
China (p) | 2 (4) | |||||||||
30 January – Navi Mumbai | ||||||||||
Japan | 2 (3) | |||||||||
Japan | 7 | |||||||||
6 February – Navi Mumbai | ||||||||||
Thailand | 0 | |||||||||
China | 3 | |||||||||
30 January – Pune | ||||||||||
South Korea | 2 | |||||||||
Australia | 0 | |||||||||
3 February – Pune | ||||||||||
South Korea | 1 | |||||||||
South Korea | 2 | |||||||||
30 January – Pune | ||||||||||
Philippines | 0 | |||||||||
Chinese Taipei | 1 (3) | |||||||||
Philippines (p) | 1 (4) | |||||||||
The format of the play-off round depended on the performance of Australia, who qualified automatically for the World Cup as hosts.[25] Since Australia was eliminated in the quarter-finals, the play-offs format was for the remaining three quarter-final losers to play a single round-robin play-off. The best team after three matches advanced to the World Cup, and the remaining two teams entered the inter-confederation play-offs.
Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Vietnam | 2 | 6 |
2 | Chinese Taipei | 2 | 3 |
3 | Thailand | 2 | 0 |
As in the previous World Cup cycle, the Women's Africa Cup of Nations served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CAF members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:
Quarter finals | Semi finals | Final | ||||||||
13 July – Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdellah) | ||||||||||
Morocco | 2 | |||||||||
18 July – Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdellah) | ||||||||||
Botswana | 1 | |||||||||
Morocco (p) | 1 (5) | |||||||||
14 July – Casablanca | ||||||||||
Nigeria | 1 (4) | |||||||||
Cameroon | 0 | |||||||||
23 July – Rabat (Prince Moulay Abdellah) | ||||||||||
Nigeria | 1 | |||||||||
Morocco | 1 | |||||||||
13 July – Casablanca | ||||||||||
South Africa | 2 | |||||||||
Zambia (p) | 1 (4) | |||||||||
18 July – Casablanca | ||||||||||
Senegal | 1 (2) | |||||||||
Zambia | 0 | |||||||||
14 July – Rabat (Moulay Hassan) | ||||||||||
South Africa | 1 | Third place | ||||||||
South Africa | 1 | |||||||||
22 July – Casablanca | ||||||||||
Tunisia | 0 | |||||||||
Nigeria | 0 | |||||||||
Zambia | 1 | |||||||||
Repechage | ||||||||||
17 July – Rabat (Moulay Hassan) | ||||||||||
Botswana | 0 | |||||||||
Cameroon | 1 | |||||||||
17 July – Casablanca | ||||||||||
Senegal (p) | 0 (4) | |||||||||
Tunisia | 0 (2) | |||||||||
As in the previous World Cup cycle, the CONCACAF W Championship served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CONCACAF members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:[26]
Group A | Group B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Source: CONCACAF
(H) Hosts |
Source: CONCACAF
|
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
14 July – San Nicolás de los Garza | ||||||
United States | 3 | |||||
18 July – Guadalupe | ||||||
Costa Rica | 0 | |||||
United States | 1 | |||||
14 July – San Nicolás de los Garza | ||||||
Canada | 0 | |||||
Canada | 3 | |||||
Jamaica | 0 | |||||
Third place match | ||||||
18 July – Guadalupe | ||||||
Costa Rica | 0 | |||||
Jamaica (a.e.t.) | 1 |
The Copa América Femenina was held from 8–30 July 2022,[27] providing three direct qualifying places and two play-off places for the Women's World Cup.[5] The top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage, from which the winners of the semi-final and third place matches qualified for the World Cup. The loser of the third place match advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs. The third-placed teams from each group played a fifth place play-off, the winner of which also advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
25 July – Bucaramanga | ||||||
Colombia | 1 | |||||
30 July – Bucaramanga | ||||||
Argentina | 0 | |||||
Colombia | 0 | |||||
26 July – Bucaramanga | ||||||
Brazil | 1 | |||||
Brazil | 2 | |||||
Paraguay | 0 | |||||
|
|
The OFC Women's Nations Cup was held from 13 to 30 July, with Fiji hosting the tournament.[28] It was originally scheduled for July and August 2022, but was shifted to January and February 2022 to accommodate changes to the FIFA Women's International Match Calendar.[29] It was subsequently pushed back to July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand did not take part as they had already qualified for the World Cup as co-hosts, and American Samoa opted not to participate due to continuing difficulties related to the pandemic. The remaining nine teams were ranked according to the 25 March world rankings and drawn into three groups on 10 May, from which the top two teams in each group and the top two third place teams advanced to the knockout stage.[30] Papua New Guinea advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs as tournament winners.
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
23 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Samoa | 4 | |||||||||
27 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
New Caledonia | 2 | |||||||||
Samoa | 0 | |||||||||
23 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Papua New Guinea | 3 | |||||||||
Papua New Guinea (p) | 3 (3) | |||||||||
30 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Tonga | 3 (2) | |||||||||
Papua New Guinea | 2 | |||||||||
24 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Fiji | 1 | |||||||||
Fiji | 2 | |||||||||
27 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Cook Islands | 0 | |||||||||
Fiji | 3 | |||||||||
24 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Solomon Islands | 1 | Third place | ||||||||
Tahiti | 0 | |||||||||
30 July 2022 – Suva | ||||||||||
Solomon Islands | 1 | |||||||||
Samoa | 1 (5) | |||||||||
Solomon Islands (p) | 1 (6) | |||||||||
The World Cup qualifying process is as follows:[31]
Group A | Group B | Group C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Source: UEFA
|
Source: UEFA
|
Source: UEFA
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group D | Group E | Group F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: UEFA
|
Source: UEFA
|
Source: UEFA
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group G | Group H | Group I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: UEFA
|
Source: UEFA
|
Source: UEFA
|
Round 1 | Round 2 | |||||||||||||
6 October 2022 – Vizela | ||||||||||||||
Portugal | 2 | |||||||||||||
11 October 2022 – Paços de Ferreira | ||||||||||||||
Belgium | 1 | |||||||||||||
Portugal (a.e.t.) | 4 | |||||||||||||
Iceland | 1 | |||||||||||||
6 October 2022 – Glasgow | ||||||||||||||
Scotland (a.e.t.) | 1 | |||||||||||||
11 October 2022 – Glasgow | ||||||||||||||
Austria | 0 | |||||||||||||
Scotland | 0 | |||||||||||||
Republic of Ireland | 1 | |||||||||||||
6 October 2022 – Cardiff | ||||||||||||||
Wales (a.e.t.) | 1 | |||||||||||||
11 October 2022 – Zürich | ||||||||||||||
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0 | |||||||||||||
Switzerland (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||||||
Wales | 1 | |||||||||||||
Ranking of play-off winners
To rank the three play-off winners, their results in their respective groups and round 2 of the play-offs were combined. As some groups had five teams and others had six, any group matches against teams who finished sixth in their groups were discounted; also, as not all teams played in both play-off rounds, results in round 1 of play-offs were not counted either. As a result, nine matches played by each team (eight in the group stage and one in round 2 of the play-offs) were counted for the purposes of determining the ranking. The two higher-placed winners qualified for the Women's World Cup and the lowest-placed winner advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.[33][34]
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Switzerland | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 5 | +20 | 22 | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup |
2 | Republic of Ireland | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 4 | +23 | 20 | |
3 | Portugal | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 10 | +12 | 19 | Inter-confederation play-offs |
The final three spots at the FIFA Women's World Cup were decided through a ten-team play-off tournament. The tournament was used as a test event for New Zealand to host prior to the Women's World Cup.
In the play-off draw, four teams were seeded into groups based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings, with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation. Teams from the same confederation were not drawn into the same group. The winner of each group qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup.[5]
Semi-final | Final | |||||
22 February 2023 – Hamilton | ||||||
Portugal | 2 | |||||
18 February 2023 – Hamilton | ||||||
Cameroon | 1 | |||||
Cameroon | 2 | |||||
Thailand | 0 | |||||
Semi-final | Final | |||||
22 February 2023 – Auckland | ||||||
Chile | 1 | |||||
18 February 2023 – Auckland | ||||||
Haiti | 2 | |||||
Senegal | 0 | |||||
Haiti | 4 | |||||
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
19 February 2023 – Hamilton | ||||||
Chinese Taipei | 2 (2) | |||||
23 February 2023 – Hamilton | ||||||
Paraguay (p) | 2 (4) | |||||
Paraguay | 0 | |||||
19 February 2023 – Auckland | ||||||
Panama | 1 | |||||
Papua New Guinea | 0 | |||||
Panama | 2 | |||||
There were 2143 goals scored in 505 matches, for an average of 4.24 goals per match.
17 goals
15 goals
14 goals
13 goals
12 goals
11 goals
10 goals
9 goals
8 goals
7 goals
6 goals
As the Afghanistan team have officially withdrawn from the qualifying round of the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup, only three teams remain in group B including Vietnam.