England, France, Norway and Sweden through
Thursday, September 16, 2010
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England, France, Norway and Sweden have joined hosts Germany in the 2011 finals while in the UEFA-CONCACAF play-offs first round, Denmark play Switzerland and Ukraine meet Italy.
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England, France, Norway and Sweden have book their places alongside hosts Germany in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup but the sides they defeated in the play-offs are not out of contention.
This week the eight group winners met over two legs for automatic places in the 29 November draw in Frankfurt, and 2007 quarter-finalists England, 2003 runners-up Sweden, 1995 champions Norway and France – who missed out last time around – emerged victorious against Switzerland, Denmark, Ukraine and Italy respectively. However, that quartet will now meet next month in a further series of knockout two-legged ties with the eventual winner to meet the third-ranked CONCACAF side for a further finals berth from 26 June to 17 July 2011.
Their opponents will be confirmed on 8 November, by which point that confederation's two automatic qualifiers will be known after the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup in Mexico. Other than the five European teams, the only other qualifiers so far are from Asia in the shape of Australia, Korea DPR and Japan. There will also be two representatives from Africa, two from South America and one from Oceania.
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