Australia and Japan are the latest nations to secure their places for the 12-team women’s competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
They will join New Zealand’s Football Ferns at the tournament in France, to start on July 26.
READ MORE: Football Ferns crush Solomon Islands 11-1 to qualify for Paris Olympics >>>>
Australia clinched their place in Paris with a 10-0 win against Uzbekistan, played before 54,120 spectators at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium. It gave the Matildas a 13-0 aggregate win over their two-legged tie.
Main photo: Michelle Heyman got the Matildas off to a flying start with a hat-trick in the first 16 minutes.
Japan beat North Korea 2-1 at their National Stadium in Tokyo, giving them a 2-1 aggregate win.
Results
Games played on Wednesday February 28, 2024
Japan 2 (Hana Takahashi 25′, Aoba Fujino 76′)
North Korea 1 (Hye-Yong Kim 81′)
Australia 10 (Own goal 1′, Michelle Heyman 4′, 8′, 16′, 45+2′, Kaitlyn Torpey 22′, Mary Fowler 36′, Caitlin Foord 38′, Hayley Raso 68′, Amy Sayer 90+4′)
Uzbekistan 0
Watch match highlights
Here are the big moments from Australia’s 10-0 win against Uzbekistan:
The 10 teams to qualify
The following nations will play at the Paris tournament (# is current FIFA world ranking):
- France (#3) have qualified as the host nation.
- New Zealand (#30) will represent Oceania, having won the OFC Women’s Olympic Qualifier tournament in Samoa.
- United States (#2) qualified by winning the 2022 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
- Brazil (#11) and Colombia (#23) secured their berths by reaching the final of the 2022 Copa América Femenina.
- Canada (#10) gain their spot by beating Jamaica 4-1 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off in September 2023.
- Spain (#1) and Germany (#6) will represent Europe after Spain won the UEFA Women’s Nations League finals in February 2024, and Germany beat the Netherlands to take the other berth.
- Japan (#8) and Australia (#12) have qualified from the Asian region.
Two places still to be decided
Only two qualification spots remain and will be filled by teams from Africa. The only remaining contenders are Tunisia (#77), Morocco (#60), Nigeria (#34), South Africa (#52) and Zambia (#70).
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