Women's World Cup qualifying group stage draw

The European qualifying draw for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup has set the nine groups starting later this year.

The record 51 contenders are split into six groups of six teams, and three of five, to be played between September 2021 and September 2022.

• The winners of the nine qualifying groups will progress directly to the finals in Australia and New Zealand from 20 July to 20 August 2023.
• The group runners-up take part in the UEFA play-offs in October 2022.
• In the play-offs, the three best runners-up will be seeded directly to round 2 of the play-offs. The six remaining runners-up contest three single-leg play-offs in round 1.
• The three winners from round 1 and the three teams seeded directly to round 2 will then compete in single-leg play-offs determined by a draw.
• The two play-off winners with the highest ranking (based on results in the qualifying group stage and round 2 play-offs) will qualify for the finals.
• The remaining play-off winner will compete in the inter-confederation play-offs from 17 to 23 February 2023 in Australia and New Zealand.

Qualifying groups

Group A: Sweden, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Georgia

Group B: Spain, Scotland, Ukraine, Hungary, Faroe Islands

Group C: Netherlands, Iceland, Czech Republic, Belarus, Cyprus

Group D: England, Austria, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Latvia, Luxembourg

Group E: Denmark, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Malta, Montenegro

Group F: Norway, Belgium, Poland, Albania, Kosovo, Armenia

Group G: Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Lithuania

Group H: Germany, Portugal, Serbia, Israel, Turkey, Bulgaria

Group I: France, Wales, Slovenia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Estonia

• Germany are aiming to follow their wins in 2003 and 2007.
• Norway were the other European world champions in 1995.
• Netherlands were runners-up in 2019.
• Cyprus are making their Women's World Cup debut.
• Luxembourg take part in a full qualifying group stage for the first time.
• Taking part in UEFA Women's EURO 2022 from 6 to 31 July: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England (hosts), Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands (holders), Northern Ireland, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

Dates

Qualifying group stage
13–21 September 2021
18–26 October 2021
22–30 November 2021
4–12 April 2022
29 August–6 September 2022

UEFA play-offs
3–11 October 2022

Finals: Continental allocation

Hosts: 2 (Australia, New Zealand)
AFC: 5
CAF: 4
CONCACAF: 4
CONMEBOL: 3
UEFA: 11
Inter-confederation play-offs: 3

Inter-confederation play-offs

A ten-team tournament will be held fron 17 to 23 February 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to decide the last three finalists.

Continental allocation
AFC: 2
CAF: 2
CONCACAF: 2
CONMEBOL: 2
OFC: 1
UEFA: 1

The teams will be split into three groups, two of three teams and one of four, with seeding decided by FIFA ranking. All three groups will be played as separate knockout competitions with the winner of each qualifying for the finals. In the two three-team groups, the seeded team will go straight to the final (after playing a friendly against Australia or New Zealand) and meet the winner of a semi-final between the other two nations.

Draw procedure

The teams were divided into six pots based on the UEFA women's national team coefficient ranking issued after the conclusion of the UEFA Women's EURO 2022 qualifying group stage.

Pots 1 to 5 contained nine teams each and Pot 6 contained the six remaining teams. The draw started with Pot 1 and then continued with Pot 2 until Pot 6. Each pot is emptied entirely before proceeding to the next pot.

As a rule and for each pot, the teams drawn were allocated in alphabetical order from Group A to Group I. When a draw condition applied or was anticipated to apply, the team drawn is allocated to the first available group in alphabetical order.

Since Pot 6 only contained six teams, these teams were drawn into the sixth positions in Groups D to I.

Based on the UEFA Executive Committee decisions valid at the time of the draw, the following teams could not be drawn into the same group: Armenia & Azerbaijan, Kosovo & Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo & Serbia, Kosovo & Russia, Ukraine & Russia

Pot 1: Netherlands, Germany, England, France, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Italy, Denmark

Pot 2: Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, Scotland, Russia, Finland, Portugal, Wales

Pot 3: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland

Pot 4: Slovakia, Hungary, Belarus, Croatia, Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Israel, Azerbaijan

Pot 5: Turkey, Malta, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Latvia

Pot 6: Montenegro, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Armenia, Bulgaria