The number of qualifying nations is growing for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted in New Zealand and Australia.
Australia and New Zealand will be there as host nations, while 20 more have been confirmed through onfield performance.
Teams confirmed
Australia (Host nation; Eighth appearance)
New Zealand (Host nation; Sixth appearance)
Japan (AFC Asian Cup semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
Philippines (AFC Asian Cup semifinalist; First appearance)
South Korea (AFC Asian Cup runner-up; Fourth appearance)
China (AFC Asian Cup winner; Eighth appearance)
Vietnam (AFC Asian Cup playoff winner; First appearance)
Sweden (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group A winner; Ninth appearance)
Spain (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group B winner; Third appearance)
Denmark (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group E winner; Fifth appearance)
France (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group I winner; Fifth appearance)
United States (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
Canada (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Eighth appearance)
Costa Rica (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Second appearance)
Jamaica (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Second appearance)
Zambia (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; First appearance)
Morocco (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; First appearance)
Nigeria (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
South Africa (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; Second appearance)
Argentina (Copa America Femenina bronze medalist; Fourth appearance)
Brazil (Copa America Femenina gold medalist; Ninth appearance)
Colombia (Copa America Femenina silver medalist; Third appearance)
Who else is coming?
The 13 remaining slots at the World Cup will decided at qualifying tournaments being held between July 2022 and February 2023.
UEFA — four have qualified, five more nations to be determined after the completion of the Women’s Euros.
The nine group winners, four of which have already been decided, qualify directly from UEFA’s preliminary tournament. The sections’ runners-up will compete in a European play-off competition to determine which of them claim the remaining two automatic berths and which goes on to compete in the intercontinental play-offs.
Besides the teams already assured of direct entry, Austria, England, Germany and Norway are already guaranteed at least a top-two finish.
Intercontinental play-offs
Ten teams will vie for three places in a qualifying tournament in New Zealand next February.
Two teams from Asia (Chinese Taipei, Thailand), Africa (Senegal, Cameroon), South America (Chile, Paraguay) and Concacaf (Panama, Haiti) and one representing Oceania (Papua New Guinea) and one from UEFA will take part,
The tournament will have two groups of three and one group of four, with each group winner qualifying for the World Cup.
The FIFA world ranking comes into play in that the top four-ranked teams will be seeded (there can only be one seeded team in each confederation), with the two highest seeds going into the groups of three. That’s significant, because it comes with byes through the semifinals and requires them to win just one more game to reach the World Cup.
By February 23, we’ll know the full list of 32 nations taking part in the World Cup.
The draw
The tournament draw will be conducted at Auckland’s Aotea Centre on October 22, 2022.
READ MORE: Click here for our earlier story about the draw >>>>
Main photo: Auckland celebrates one year to go to the start of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Source: NZ Football social media.
More football stories
