Women's World Cup qualifying group stage: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden in finals

The European qualifying group stage for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand settled nine finals spots and sent nine more to the play-offs.

The record 51 contenders were split into six groups of six teams, and three of five. They competed for nine direct spots in the finals (for group winners) as well as the chance to play off for two other European berths, and another in the inter-confederation play-offs, which will take place in New Zealand from 17 to 23 February.

The UEFA play-off draw, involving all nine group runners-up, will be held at 13:30 CET on Friday, with the matches on 6 and 11 October. The two best play-off winners qualify directly while the others travel to the inter-confederation play-offs.

How it worked

• The winners of the nine qualifying groups 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 on 6 and 11 October.
• In the play-offs, the three best runners-up will be seeded directly to round 2. The six remaining runners-up contest three single-leg play-offs in round 1 on 6 October.
• The three winners from round 1 and the three teams seeded directly to round 2 will then compete in single-leg play-offs on 11 October.
• 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 New Zealand.

Qualifying groups

Sweden drew with Ireland to book a finals spotSPORTSFILE

Group A: Sweden (qualified), Republic of Ireland (play-offs), Finland, Slovakia, Georgia

• Kosovare Asllani equalised with 11 minutes left to give Sweden a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland in April and the point they needed to keep up their record of qualifying for every World Cup final tournament. Ireland beat Finland 1-0 on Thursday in front of a national-record 6,952 crowd in Dublin to clinch a World Cup play-off for the first time and move closer to a potential debut major finals.

Group B: Spain (qualified), Scotland (play-offs), Ukraine, Hungary, Faroe Islands

• Jenni Hermoso scored twice to give Spain a 2-0 April win in Scotland that booked their finals spot with two games to spare, and they ended with a perfect record and no goals conceded. Scotland were confirmed in the play-offs after June's games as they won 4-0 against Ukraine, who then defeated Hungary 2-0.

Group C: Netherlands (qualified), Iceland (play-offs), Czechia, Belarus, Cyprus

• The 2019 runners-up Netherlands needed a win in their last match with Iceland in Utrecht and got it 1-0 deep in added time through Stefanie van der Gragt. Iceland, having missed out on an immediate World Cup debut, go into the play-offs.

Group D: England (qualified), Austria (play-offs), Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Latvia

• England won 2-0 in Austria on Saturday, confirming the European champions' World Cup berth, ,and after defeating Luxembourg 10-0 the Lionesses ended with the best record in qualifying history, ten perfect victories and 80 unanswered goals. Austria will take part in the play-offs having held off a challenge from another team that were in Women's EURO Group A, Northern Ireland.

Group E*: Denmark (qualified), Bosnia and Herzegovina (play-offs), Montenegro, Malta, Azerbaijan

*Russia excluded

• Denmark qualified with eight perfect wins. Bosnia and Herzegovina drew 1-1 in Azerbaijan in their final game to reach their first-ever play-off, two points ahead of Montenegro, who lost 2-0 to Malta.

Norway celebrate qualifying with victory in BelgiumBELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

Group F: Norway (qualified), Belgium (play-offs), Poland, Albania, Kosovo, Armenia

• Tuva Hansen's first international goal gave Norway a 1-0 win in Belgium on Friday and booked a finals spot for the 1995 champions in their debut game under one of their players from that World Cup success, Hege Riise. Belgium made sure of a play-off by defeating Armenia 7-0. Belgium's Tessa Wullaert ended top scorer across the groups on 16, her goal against Armenia ensuring she equalled the European Women's World Cup qualifying best set by Adriana Martín for the 2011 edition and Miedema for 2015 (one behind the record for any UEFA women's qualifying campaign set by Célia Šašić for Women's EURO 2013).

Group G: Italy (qualified), Switzerland (play-offs), Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Moldova

• Italy booked their finals spot by beating Romania 2-0, to end two points ahead of Switzerland.

Group H: Germany (qualified), Portugal (play-offs), Serbia, Türkiye, Israel, Bulgaria

• Germany, previously perfect, suffered their first away qualifying defeat since 17 June 1998 as they were beaten 3-2 in Serbia in April, but the twice champions did seal their finals spot thanks to a 3-0 victory in Türkiye on Saturday. Portugal went second on Friday as they came from behind to win 2-1 in Serbia, and defeated Türkiye 3-1 to reach their first World Cup play-off.

Germany will go for a third title next yearGetty Images

Group I: France (qualified), Wales (play-offs), Slovenia, Greece, Estonia, Kazakhstan

• France edged to a 2-1 win in Wales in April and then Delphine Cascarino clinched the 1-0 victory against Slovenia that ensured qualification for Les Bleues, who ended with a perfect record. Wales ended Greece's hopes with a 1-0 win and a 0-0 draw at home to Slovenia booked their first-ever play-off.

Team facts

• Germany are aiming to follow their wins in 2003 and 2007.
• Norway are the only other European world champions, having triumphed in 1995.
• The Netherlands finished as runners-up in 2019.
• Sweden won their second straight Olympic silver medal in August 2021; they took World Cup bronze in 2019 having been runners-up to Germany in 2003.
• England hope to follow their EURO triumph with World Cup success as Germany did in 2003 and 2007 (Norway also won the EURO in 1993 and World Cup in 1995, but the EURO was then biennial and Germany had taken the 1995 continental title a few months before the global finals in Sweden).
• Cyprus made their Women's World Cup debut.
• Luxembourg took in a full qualifying group stage for the first time.

Results

Qualifying group stage
16–21 September 2021
21–26 October 2021
25–30 November 2021
23 February 2022
7–12 April 2022
23–28 June 2022
1–6 September 2022

UEFA play-offs
Round 1: 6 October 2002
Round 2: 11 October 2022

Finals: Continental allocation/qualified teams

Hosts: 2 (Australia, New Zealand)
AFC: 5 (China, Japan, Philippines*, South Korea, Vietnam*)
CAF: 4 (Morocco*, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia*)
CONCACAF: 4 (Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, United States)
CONMEBOL: 3 (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia)
UEFA: 11 (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden)
Inter-confederation play-offs: 3

*Debut

Inter-confederation play-offs

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

Continental allocation/Contenders
AFC: 2 (Chinese Taipei, Thailand)
CAF: 2 (Cameroon, Senegal)
CONCACAF: 2 (Haiti, Panama)
CONMEBOL: 2 (Chile, Paraguay)
OFC: 1 (Papua New Guinea)
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 New Zealand or a guest nation) and meet the winner of a semi-final between the other two teams in their group.