The field for the largest Women’s World Cup ever is filling up, with 32 nations set to vie for glory in New Zealand and Australia next summer.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be the first 32-team event of its kind, and qualifying for a trip to Australia and New Zealand next summer is unique all over the world. In only one region, Europe, there’s a dedicated qualifying tournament solely for the competition, where 11 nations will directly punch their tickets.
In Asia and Africa, their regional cup competitions—Asian Cup and Cup of Nations—double as qualifying, with finishers of a certain tier also booking their World Cup trips. In Concacaf and South America, the new W Championship and Copa América Femenina, respectively, double as World Cup and Olympic qualifying, while in Oceania, qualifying beyond co-host New Zealand is limited to one tournament, the OFC Women’s Nations Cup, whose winner is only guaranteed a place in a new 10-team intercontinental playoff.
That tournament, used as a test event for New Zealand in February 2023, will offer a last chance for three more nations to fill out the biggest Women’s World Cup field ever and fully set the course for next summer. The draw for the ninth Women’s World Cup will be held Oct. 22, so, just like on the men’s side this year, the pots will contain placeholders for the three successful playoff teams, and all eight groups will officially be filled a few months later.
Here’s a closer look at the Women’s World Cup qualifying field and where the remaining places will come from over the course of the next seven months—as 31 other nations try to prevent the U.S. women’s national team from completing a three-peat and winning for a record fifth time.
QUALIFIED TEAMS
Australia (Host nation; Eighth appearance)
New Zealand (Host nation; Sixth appearance)
Japan (AFC Asian Cup semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
Philippines (AFC Asian Cup semifinalist; First appearance)
South Korea (AFC Asian Cup runner-up; Fourth appearance)
China (AFC Asian Cup winner; Eighth appearance)
Vietnam (AFC Asian Cup playoff winner; First appearance)
Sweden (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group A winner; Ninth appearance)
Spain (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group B winner; Third appearance)
Denmark (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group E winner; Fifth appearance)
France (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group I winner; Fifth appearance)
United States (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
Canada (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Eighth appearance)
Costa Rica (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Second appearance)
Jamaica (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Second appearance)
Zambia (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; First appearance)
Morocco (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; First appearance)
Nigeria (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
South Africa (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; Second appearance)
STILL LEFT TO QUALIFY
UEFA
Four group winners in UEFA’s qualifying tournament have been decided, but five more remain to be determined after the completion of the Women’s Euros. In addition to those nine slots at the World Cup, two more are decided via playoff, with the nine second-place group finishers given another chance. Two of those nine teams will qualify automatically, while a third will go into the intercontinental playoff.
In the nine-team UEFA playoff the three best second-place finishers will receive byes, while the six worst are drawn into head-to-head matchups that will eliminate three sides.
The three winners from the second round are then ranked in a table by combining their group finishes and their playoff victories. The top two go to the World Cup, while the third goes to the intercontinental playoff.
Scotland is currently the only team assured of a UEFA playoff place, with the region’s group stage running through the first week of September. The playoff tournament takes place from Oct. 3–11.
CONMEBOL
Three automatic berths and two intercontinental places will be settled at the Copa América Femenina in Colombia. The region is split into two groups of five, where the top two in each group advance to the semifinals, and the third-place finishers play a fifth-place match.
The winners of the semifinals and ensuing third-place game (contested by the semifinal losers) automatically go to the World Cup. The fourth- and fifth-place finishers go to the intercontinental playoff. The two finalists also qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
The competition runs until July 30.
OCEANIA
Like on the men’s side, Oceania is not guaranteed an automatic qualifier at the World Cup (beyond co-host New Zealand), as the regional winner must go through an additional playoff. The qualifying tournament is quite odd, in that the nine-team group stage (three groups of three) eliminates one team.
The remaining eight (top two in each group, top two third-place finishers) go into a knockout tournament, where the winner goes to the intercontinental playoff. The OFC Women’s Nations Cup began July 13 and runs until July 30.
INTERCONTINENTAL PLAYOFF
Ten teams will compete for three places in a first-of-its-kind World Cup qualifying tournament next February in New Zealand.
Two teams apiece from Asia (Chinese Taipei, Thailand), Africa, South America and Concacaf (Panama, Haiti) and one apiece from Oceania and UEFA make up the field, which is split into two groups of three and one group of four, with the winners of each group advancing to the World Cup.
The FIFA world ranking comes into play in that the top four-ranked teams will be seeded (there can only be one seeded team in each confederation), with the two highest seeds going into the groups of three. That’s significant, because it comes with byes through the semifinals and requires them to win just one more game to reach the World Cup.
The other two seeds go into the four-team group, and the rest of the field will be drawn at random, although no teams from the same confederation can wind up in the same bracket. The final berths in the World Cup will be clinched on Feb. 22 and 23.
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