2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The European qualifying for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was a women's football tournament organized by UEFA.[1] A record 46 entrants were competing for eight spots.[2] For the first time Albania and Montenegro entered a senior competitive tournament. The first matches were held on 4 April 2013.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Tournament details
Dates4 April 2013 – 14 October 2014
Teams46 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played228
Goals scored965 (4.23 per match)
Top scorer(s) Vivianne Miedema (16 goals)
Qualification for women's championships (UEFA)
FIFA Women's World Cup
UEFA Women's Championship
Summer Olympics

Preliminary round
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA preliminary round

The eight lowest teams entered the tournament in the preliminary round were drawn into two groups of four. The two best placed teams in each group advanced to the next round where they competed among the other thirty-eight teams entered. The preliminary round was drawn on 18 December 2012.[3] Malta and Lithuania as hosts were the only seeded teams. Matches were played from 4 to 9 April 2013.

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Malta (H) 3 2 1 0 9 1 +8 7 Group stage — — — 6–0
2  Albania 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7 1–1 — 2–0 —
3  Latvia 3 0 1 2 0 4 −4 1 0–2 — — —
4  Luxembourg 3 0 1 2 1 8 −7 1 — 1–2 0–0 —
Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Faroe Islands 3 2 1 0 6 4 +2 7 Group stage — 3–3 2–1 —
2  Montenegro 3 1 2 0 6 4 +2 5 — — — 1–1
3  Georgia 3 1 0 2 5 7 −2 3 — 0–2 — 4–3
4  Lithuania (H) 3 0 1 2 4 6 −2 1 0–1 — — —
Source: UEFA
(H) Host.

Group stage

The group stage draw was made on 16 April 2013. Teams played each other twice, once at home and once away. Matches were played from 20 September 2013 to 17 September 2014. All seven group winners advanced directly to the final tournament, while the four runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth, and fifth in their groups advanced to play-off matches on 25/26 and 29/30 October and 22/23 and 26/27 November 2014 for the remaining berth.[4][5]

Seeding

Seeding was based on results in three tournaments, the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying, 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying, each with their qualification results included.

Pot A Pot B Pot C Pot D Pot E Pot F

 Germany
 Sweden
 France
 England
 Norway
 Italy
 Denmark

 Iceland
 Finland
 Russia
 Netherlands
 Spain
 Scotland
 Ukraine

  Switzerland
 Poland
 Czech Republic
 Austria
 Belgium
 Republic of Ireland
 Belarus

 Hungary
 Serbia
 Romania
 Portugal
 Wales
 Slovakia
 Northern Ireland

 Slovenia
 Greece
 Turkey
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Bulgaria
 Israel
 Estonia

 Kazakhstan
 Croatia
 North Macedonia
 Malta
 Faroe Islands
 Albania
 Montenegro

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:[1]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played between the teams in question;
  5. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
  6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;

Group 1
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 10 10 0 0 62 4 +58 30 Women's World Cup — 9–0 2–0 4–0 4–0 9–1
2  Russia 10 7 1 2 19 18 +1 22 1–4 — 0–0 1–0 4–1 3–1
3  Republic of Ireland 10 5 2 3 13 9 +4 17 2–3 1–3 — 1–0 2–0 2–0
4  Croatia 10 2 2 6 7 20 −13 8 0–8 1–3 1–1 — 1–0 0–1
5  Slovenia 10 2 0 8 7 34 −27 6 0–13 1–2 0–3 0–3 — 2–1
6  Slovakia 10 1 1 8 6 29 −23 4 0–6 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–3 —
Source: UEFA

Group 2
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 10 9 1 0 42 2 +40 28 Women's World Cup — 2–0 3–2 1–0 6–0 12–0
2  Italy 10 8 1 1 48 5 +43 25 Play-offs 0–0 — 6–1 1–0 4–0 15–0
3  Czech Republic 10 4 2 4 21 18 +3 14 0–1 0–4 — 0–0 6–0 5–2
4  Romania 10 3 2 5 18 11 +7 11 0–2 1–2 0–0 — 0–3[lower-alpha 1] 6–1
5  Estonia 10 2 1 7 8 33 −25 7 0–5 1–5 1–4 0–2 — 1–1
6  North Macedonia 10 0 1 9 6 74 −68 1 0–10 0–11 1–3 1–9 0–2 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Estonia were awarded a 3–0 win. The match originally ended 2–0 to Romania.

Group 3
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification  
1   Switzerland 10 9 1 0 53 1 +52 28 Women's World Cup — 3–0 1–1 9–0 9–0 11–0
2  Iceland 10 6 1 3 29 9 +20 19 0–2 — 0–1 3–0 9–1 5–0
3  Denmark 10 5 3 2 25 6 +19 18 0–1 1–1 — 0–1 3–1 8–0
4  Israel 10 4 0 6 9 27 −18 12 0–5 0–1 0–5 — 3–1 2–0
5  Serbia 10 3 1 6 16 34 −18 10 0–7 1–2 1–1 3–0 — 5–0
6  Malta 10 0 0 10 0 55 −55 0 0–5 0–8 0–5 0–3[lower-alpha 1] 0–3 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Israel were awarded a 3–0 win. The match originally ended 2–0 to Israel.

Group 4
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Sweden 10 10 0 0 32 1 +31 30 Women's World Cup — 2–0 2–0 3–0 3–0 5–0
2  Scotland 10 8 0 2 37 8 +29 24 Play-offs 1–3 — 2–0 7–0 2–0 9–0
3  Poland 10 5 1 4 20 14 +6 16 0–4 0–4 — 3–1 4–0 6–0
4  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 2 3 5 7 19 −12 9 0–1 1–3 1–1 — 1–0 2–0
5  Northern Ireland 10 1 2 7 3 19 −16 5 0–4 0–2 0–3 0–0 — 3–0
6  Faroe Islands 10 0 2 8 3 41 −38 2 0–5 2–7 0–3 1–1 0–0 —
Source: UEFA

Group 5
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Norway 10 9 0 1 41 5 +36 27 Women's World Cup — 0–2 4–1 2–0 6–0 7–0
2  Netherlands 10 8 1 1 43 6 +37 25 Play-offs 1–2 — 1–1 3–2 7–0 10–1
3  Belgium 10 6 1 3 34 11 +23 19 1–2 0–2 — 4–1 11–0 2–0
4  Portugal 10 4 0 6 19 21 −2 12 0–2 0–7 0–1 — 1–0 7–1
5  Greece 10 1 0 9 6 49 −43 3[lower-alpha 1] 0–5 0–6 1–7 1–5 — 4–0
6  Albania 10 1 0 9 3 54 −51 3[lower-alpha 1] 0–11 0–4 0–6 0–3 1–0 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Greece scored more head-to-head goals than Albania

Group 6
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  England 10 10 0 0 52 1 +51 30 Women's World Cup — 4–0 2–0 8–0 6–0 9–0
2  Ukraine 10 7 1 2 34 9 +25 22 Play-offs 1–2 — 1–0 8–0 8–0 7–0
3  Wales 10 6 1 3 18 9 +9 19 0–4 1–1 — 1–0 1–0 4–0
4  Turkey 10 4 0 6 12 31 −19 12 0–4 0–1 1–5 — 3–0 3–1
5  Belarus 10 2 0 8 12 31 −19 6 0–3 1–3 0–3 1–2 — 3–1
6  Montenegro 10 0 0 10 6 53 −47 0 0–10 1–4 0–3 2–3 1–7 —
Source: UEFA

Group 7
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France 10 10 0 0 54 3 +51 30 Women's World Cup — 3–1 3–1 4–0 7–0 14–0
2  Austria 10 7 0 3 31 14 +17 21[lower-alpha 1] 1–3 — 3–1 4–3 5–1 4–0
3  Finland 10 7 0 3 27 9 +18 21[lower-alpha 1] 0–2 2–1 — 4–0 1–0 4–0
4  Hungary 10 4 0 6 20 25 −5 12 0–4 0–3 0–4 — 4–1 4–0
5  Kazakhstan 10 1 1 8 8 30 −22 4 0–4 0–3 0–2 1−2 — 4–1
6  Bulgaria 10 0 1 9 3 62 −59 1 0–10 1–6 0–8 0–7 1–1 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Austria scored more head-to-head goals than Finland

Ranking of second-placed teams

Matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of the second-placed table.

The ranking of the runners-up is determined by the following parameters in this order:[1]

  1. Highest number of points
  2. Goal difference
  3. Highest number of goals scored
  4. Highest number of away goals scored
  5. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;
Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 5  Netherlands 8 6 1 1 29 5 +24 19 Play-offs
2 2  Italy 8 6 1 1 22 5 +17 19
3 4  Scotland 8 6 0 2 21 6 +15 18
4 6  Ukraine 8 5 1 2 23 8 +15 16
5 1  Russia 8 5 1 2 14 17 −3 16
6 7  Austria 8 5 0 3 21 13 +8 15
7 3  Iceland 8 4 1 3 16 9 +7 13
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) National team coefficient.

Play-offs
Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA play-offs

After conclusion of the group stage the four runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth and fifth in their groups played home and away matches, to determine the last place in the FIFA World Cup.

The draw was held on 23 September 2014 at 14:00 local time at Nyon, Switzerland.[6]

In the play-off draw, teams are seeded according to their UEFA Women's National Team Coefficient Ranking.

Seeded Unseeded

 Italy
 Netherlands

 Scotland
 Ukraine

Semifinals
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Scotland  1–4  Netherlands 1–2 0–2
Italy  4–3  Ukraine 2–1 2–2

Final
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Netherlands  3–2  Italy 1–1 2–1

References
  1. "Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 7th FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  2. "Women's World Cup preliminary contenders". UEFA. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  3. "Albania, Montenegro learn debut opposition". UEFA. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  4. "Qualifying route laid out in Europe". FIFA. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  5. "Women's World Cup qualifying draw made". UEFA. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  6. "Italy face Ukraine, Scotland challenge Netherlands". UEFA.com. 23 September 2014.
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