Six teams are left in the chase for the last three places at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
Their fates will be decided in three games to be played on Wednesday October 12 (NZT), with two teams automatically qualifying to join those at the World Cup tournament.
A third team will join nine others in an intercontinental play-off series to be held in New Zealand next February, to determine the last spot at the finals.
The six teams still in contention (with current FIFA world rankings) are: Portugal (27), Iceland (14), Switzerland (21), Wales (30), Scotland (23) and Republic of Ireland (26).
They meet in the following fixtures:
Fixtures
Games to be played on Wednesday October 12, 2022 (NZT)
Portugal v Iceland
Estádio Capital do Móvel, Paços de Ferreira, Portugal, 6am (NZT)
Switzerland v Wales
Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich, 6am (NZT)
Scotland v Republic of Ireland
Hampden Park, Glasgow, 8am (NZT)
How they qualify
To decide the final rankings, the results of the three Wednesday games will produce three points for a win, one for a draw, and the result after extra time is counted but not any penalty shoot-out.
The two top teams in the final rankings go to the World Cup finals — the third come to New Zealand in February for the play-offs.
Current standings
Results
To decide which six teams would meet in next Wednesday’s play-off games, the following matches were played on Friday:
Games played on Friday October 7, 2022 (NZT)
Portugal 2
Belgium 1
Wales 1
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Scotland 1
Austria 0
*after extra time
Volunteers needed
Applications are open for volunteers who want to help make next February’s FIFA Women’s World Cup play-off tournament a success in Auckland and Hamilton.
The volunteers will help at the stadia, training sites, hotels, Auckland Airport and transport hubs.
For more information and to apply online, go to:
The nine teams coming to New Zealand
Confirmed for the February play-offs tournament are (current FIFA world rankings in brackets):
- Cameroon (59)
- Chinese Taipei (38)
- Chile (39)
- Haiti (56)
- Panama (57)
- Papua New Guinea (49)
- Paraguay (51)
- Senegal (84)
- Thailand (41)
Tournament venues
Ferns fixtures
The Ferns will play three friendly internationals during the play-off tournament:
New Zealand v TBC (the first seeded team in Group A of the play-off tournament)
Friday February 17, 2023
FMG Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
New Zealand v Guest team (TBC)
Monday February 20, 2023
FMG Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
New Zealand v Guest team (TBC)
Thursday February 23, 2023
North Harbour Stadium, Albany, Auckland
The 27 nations already confirmed for the World Cup finals
READ MORE: Here’s who have already booked their places at next July’s FIFA Women’s World Cup >>>>
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