World Cup qualifiers for women group stage last: Spain, Sweden in final | Women’s World Cup
The European qualifying group for the 2023 Women’s World Cup is ongoing and will run until September 6, 2022.
The record 51 challengers are divided into six groups of six teams and three of five. They compete for nine direct places in the final as well as the chance to play for two other European berths, and another in the league play-off, which like the finals will take place in Australia and New Zealand.
European qualifiers so far
Spain (winner in Group B)
Sweden (winner in group A)
How it works
- The winners of the nine qualifying groups will go straight to the finals in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20, 2023.
- The group runner-up will take part in the UEFA final in October 2022.
- In the playoffs, the top three runners-up will be seeded directly to Round 2. The six remaining runners-up will compete for three single-legged playoffs in Round 1.
- The three winners from round 1 and the three teams that are seeded directly to round 2 will then compete in the playoffs in individual legs determined by a draw.
- The two playoff winners with the highest ranking (based on results in the qualifying group game and playoffs in round 2) will qualify for the final.
- The remaining playoff winner will compete in the playoffs between the leagues from 17 to 23 February 2023 in Australia and New Zealand.
All matches
Qualified groups
Group A: Sweden (Qualified), Finland, Ireland, Slovakia, Georgia
- Kosovar Asllani equalized with 11 minutes left to give Sweden a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland and the points they needed to maintain their qualifying record for each World Cup final tournament. In the battle for second place, Finland beat Georgia 6-0 and went two points ahead of Ireland, who have one match left.
Group B: Spain (Qualified), Scotland, Hungary, Ukraine, Faroe Islands
- Jenni Hermoso scored two goals to give Spain a 2-0 victory in Scotland who book their final place with two matches left after six perfect victories. Scotland is still one point ahead of Hungary. Ukraine, six points from second with two matches left, will now face Scotland and Hungary on 24 and 28 June respectively.
Group C: Iceland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belarus, Cyprus
- Iceland won 1-0 in the Czech Republic to secure a top two place and go one point ahead of the undefeated Netherlands, who will take the lead on September 6 in the group stage. The Czech Republic is nine points behind second place with one match left against Belarus on 28 June. The Netherlands’s Vivianne Miedema is one of Julie Fleeting’s career records with 32 World Cup qualifiers.
Group D: England, Austria, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, Northern Macedonia, Latvia
- England’s steady progress continued as they won 5-0 in Northern Ireland for an eighth perfect victory. They lead Austria, 8-0 winner against Latvia, with five points. Matched in Austria on September 3, the top two are now confident of at least the playoffs with their common opponents for UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Group A, Northern Ireland, impossible to take either of them, even if they set a new crowd record of 15,348 in Belfast against England.
Group E: Denmark, Russia *, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Malta, Azerbaijan
*Russia suspended for the time being
- Denmark has eight perfect wins after 2-0 April victories against Malta and Azerbaijan. Bosnia and Herzegovina won 2-0 in Montenegro to go ahead of their hosts.
Group F: Norway, Belgium, Poland, Albania, Kosovo, Armenia
- A hat trick from Ada Hegerberg on his return to Norway ensured a 5-1 victory against Kosovo and a 2-1 loss to Poland kept the undefeated leaders three points ahead of Belgium, who beat Kosovo 6-1 with four goals from Tessa Wullaert , now top scorer in the groups of 15, one of the European Championship qualifiers for women best by Adriana Martín for 2011 and Miedema for 2015, and two behind the record for the UEFA qualifiers for women set by Célia Šašić for the European Women’s Championship 2013. Belgium takes against Norway on September 2, potentially having to match the 4-0 result for their defeat in October in Oslo for any head-to-head tie-breaker. Poland is five points behind second with two games left.
Group G: Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Moldova
- A late Cristiana Girelli goal gave Italy a 1-0 victory in Switzerland and took the Azzurre top, two points ahead of their opponents. It marked a turnaround from November, when Italy lost 2-1 at home to Switzerland, whose perfect run ended in their opening match in April when they were held 1-1 by Romania. A 1-0 victory in Croatia kept Romania in the match, six points from Switzerland with one match left.
Group H: Germany, Serbia, Portugal, Turkey, Israel, Bulgaria
- Germany, who were previously perfect, suffered their first defeat in away qualifying since June 17, 1998 when they were defeated 3-2 in Serbia thanks to two goals by Bayern’s Jovana Damnjanović on Tuesday, denying the two-time champions the chance to reach the final with two matches. to go. Serbia is within three points of Germany, who have a goal difference advantage over the other placed team should they end up in level. Portugal, third, beat Bulgaria 3-0 to stay within two points of Serbia, who they visit on September 2.
Group I: France, Wales, Slovenia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Estonia
- France won 2-1 in Wales on Friday to secure a top-two finish. Wales then won 3-0 in Kazakhstan on Tuesday and went back to second place ahead of Slovenia, who had then taken their place with their own 2-0 success in Kazakhstan. France, five points ahead of Wales, will later host Slovenia.
Legal facts
- Germany aims to track its gains in 2003 and 2007.
- Norway are the only other European world champions, having won in 1995.
- The Netherlands finished second in 2019.
- Sweden took its second straight Olympic silver in August; they took the World Cup bronze in 2019 after being second to Germany in 2003.
- Cyprus makes its World Cup debut for women.
- Luxembourg is participating for the first time in a complete qualifying group game.
- Competes in UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 from 6 to 31 July: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England (hosts), Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands (holder), Northern Ireland, Norway, Russia *, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland . * Russia has been shut down for the time being.
Date
Qualifying group games
16–21 September 2021
October 21-26, 2021
25–30 November 2021
February 23, 2022
April 7-12, 2022
June 23-28, 2022
September 1-6, 2022
UEFA play-offs
October 3-11, 2022
Finals: Continental allotment / qualifying teams
Hosts: 2 (Australia, New Zealand)
AFC: 5 (China, Japan, Philippines *, South Korea, Vietnam *)
CAF: 4
CONCACAF: 4
CONMEBOL: 3
UEFA: 11 (Spain, Sweden)
Playoff finals: 3
*Debut
Play-offs between federations
A ten-team tournament will be held in Australia and New Zealand from 17 to 23 February 2023 to decide the final three finalists.
Continental award / challenger
AFC: 2 (Chinese Taipei, Thailand)
CAF: 2
CONCACAF: 2
CONMEBOL: 2
OFC: 1
UEFA: 1
The teams will be divided into three groups: two of three teams and one of four, with seeding determined by the FIFA rankings. All three groups will be played as separate knockout competitions, with the winner of each qualifying for the final. In the two three-team groups, the seeded team goes straight to the final (after playing a friendly against Australia or New Zealand) and meets the winner of a semi-final between the other two nations.