2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided all 24 teams which played in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the hosts France qualifying automatically.[1] It is the eighth FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football world championship tournament. The tournament is the third to be hosted in Europe, after the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sweden and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates3 April 2017 – 1 December 2018
Teams144 (from 6 confederations)
Tournament statistics
Matches played392
Goals scored1,562 (3.98 per match)
Top scorer(s) Khadija Shaw (19 goals)

Qualified teams

  Teams qualified for World Cup
  Teams failed to qualify for World Cup
  Teams expelled from the tournament by FIFA
  Teams did not enter qualification
Team Qualified as Qualification date Appearance
in finals
Last
appearance
Consecutive
streak
Previous best performance
 FranceHosts19 March 20154th20153Fourth place (2011)
 China PR2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup 3rd place9 April 20187th20152Runners-up (1999)
 Thailand2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup 4th place12 April 20182nd20152Group stage (2015)
 Australia2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup runners-up13 April 20187th20157Quarter-finals (2007, 2011, 2015)
 Japan2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup champions13 April 20188th20158Champions (2011)
 South Korea2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup 5th place16 April 20183rd20152Round of 16 (2015)
 Brazil2018 Copa América Femenina champions19 April 20188th20158Runners-up (2007)
 Chile2018 Copa América Femenina runners-up22 April 20181st1Debut
 SpainUEFA qualification Group 7 winners8 June 20182nd20152Group stage (2015)
 ItalyUEFA qualification Group 6 winners8 June 20183rd19991Quarter-finals (1991)
 EnglandUEFA qualification Group 1 winners31 August 20185th20154Third place (2015)
 ScotlandUEFA qualification Group 2 winners4 September 20181st1Debut
 NorwayUEFA qualification Group 3 winners4 September 20188th20158Champions (1995)
 SwedenUEFA qualification Group 4 winners4 September 20188th20158Runners-up (2003)
 GermanyUEFA qualification Group 5 winners4 September 20188th20158Champions (2003, 2007)
 Canada2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship runners-up14 October 20187th20157Fourth place (2003)
 United States2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship champions14 October 20188th20158Champions (1991, 1999, 2015)
 Jamaica2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship 3rd place17 October 20181st1Debut
 NetherlandsUEFA qualification play-off winners13 November 20182nd20152Round of 16 (2015)
 ArgentinaCONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off winners13 November 20183rd20071Group stage (2003, 2007)
 Nigeria2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations champions27 November 20188th20158Quarter-finals (1999)
 South Africa2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations runners-up27 November 20181st1Debut
 Cameroon2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations 3rd place30 November 20182nd20152Round of 16 (2015)
 New Zealand2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup champions1 December 20185th20154Group stage (1991, 2007, 2011, 2015)

Qualification process

The slot allocation was approved by the FIFA Council on 13–14 October 2016.[2] The slots for each confederation are unchanged from that of the previous tournament except the slot for the hosts is moved from CONCACAF (Canada) to UEFA (France).[3]

Summary of qualification

Qualifying matches started on 3 April 2017, and ended on 1 December 2018.

Apart from the host France, 207 of the 210 remaining FIFA member associations could qualify through their own confederation's qualifying process if they choose to enter. The exceptions were Guatemala[4] and Kuwait,[5] whose football associations were suspended by FIFA, and Equatorial Guinea, which were banned from the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.[6] Guam, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, and Turks and Caicos Islands were initially drawn into qualifying stages but they withdrew from their qualifying tournaments.

More than 30 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa, did not enter qualification, including Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Egypt, which qualified teams for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[7]

Confederation Tournament Available slots Nations started Nations eliminated Nations qualified Qualification start Qualification end
AFC2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup5241953 April 201720 April 2018
CAF2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations324[1]2134 April 20181 December 2018
CONCACAF2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship3.528[2]2535 May 201817 October 2018[3]
CONMEBOL2018 Copa América Femenina2.510734 April 201822 April 2018[3]
OFC2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup11110124 August 20181 December 2018
UEFA2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)8+H46+H388+H6 April 201713 November 2018
Total2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification23+H143+H12023+H3 April 20171 December 2018
1 25 teams participate in the CAF qualification, however Equatorial Guinea cannot qualify for the World Cup regardless of their performance in the Africa Cup of Nations.
2 Although 30 teams participated in the CONCACAF qualification, Guadeloupe and Martinique are not FIFA members and thus were ineligible to qualify for the World Cup.
3 A team each from CONCACAF (Panama) and CONMEBOL (Argentina) competed in a play-off on 8 and 13 November 2018 for a place in the World Cup.
  • H: Hosts

Confederation qualification

AFC

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the AFC Women's Asian Cup served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for AFC members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:[8]

  • Qualifying stage: The qualifying for the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held from 3 to 12 April 2017.[9] 24 teams entered the competition, with Japan, Australia, and China automatically qualified for the final tournament by their position as the top three teams of the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup and thus not participating in the qualifying competition. Jordan also automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, but decided to also participate in the qualifying competition.[10] The 21 teams were drawn into one group of six teams and three groups of five teams. In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue, and the four group winners qualified for the final tournament. Since Jordan won their group, the runner-up of this group also qualified for the final tournament.
  • Final tournament: Eight teams played in the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup, which was held from 6 to 20 April 2018 in Jordan.[11][12] They were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup as well as advance to the knockout stage, while the third-placed teams of each group advanced to the fifth-placed play-off, where the winner of the play-off qualified for the World Cup.

Group stage

Group A Group B
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  China PR 3 9
2  Thailand 3 6
3  Philippines 3 3
4  Jordan (H) 3 0
Source: AFC
(H) Host.
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Australia 3 5
2  Japan 3 5
3  South Korea 3 5
4  Vietnam 3 0
Source: AFC

Fifth place play-off

Team 1  Score  Team 2
Philippines  0–5  South Korea

CAF

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the Africa Women Cup of Nations served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CAF members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:

  • Qualifying stage: The qualifying for the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations was held from 4 April to 9 June 2018. 24 teams entered the qualifying competition, with four teams (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa) earning byes to the second round, and the remaining 20 teams entering the first round. Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The seven winners of the second round qualified for the final tournament to join the hosts Ghana who qualified automatically.[13]
  • Final tournament: Eight teams played in the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations, which was held from 17 November to 1 December 2018 in Ghana.[14][15] They were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage, where the winners of the semi-finals and the third place play-off qualified for the World Cup.

FIFA banned Equatorial Guinea from qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, meaning they could not qualify for the World Cup regardless of their performance in the Africa Women Cup of Nations.[6]

Knockout stage

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 November – Accra
 
 
 Cameroon0 (2)
 
1 December – Accra
 
 Nigeria (p)0 (4)
 
 Nigeria (p)0 (4)
 
27 November – Cape Coast
 
 South Africa0 (3)
 
 South Africa2
 
 
 Mali0
 
Third place match
 
 
30 November – Cape Coast
 
 
 Cameroon4
 
 
 Mali2

CONCACAF

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the CONCACAF Women's Championship served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CONCACAF members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:

Guadeloupe and Martinique entered Caribbean qualifying for the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship. However, as they are not FIFA members, they were ineligible to qualify for the World Cup.

Knockout stage

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
14 October – Frisco
 
 
 Panama0
 
17 October – Frisco
 
 Canada7
 
 Canada0
 
14 October – Frisco
 
 United States2
 
 United States6
 
 
 Jamaica0
 
Third place play-off
 
 
17 October – Frisco
 
 
 Panama2 (2)
 
 
 Jamaica (p)2 (4)

CONMEBOL

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the Copa América Femenina served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CONMEBOL members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:

  • Final tournament: Ten teams played in the 2018 Copa América Femenina, which was held between 4 and 22 April 2018 in Chile.[17][18] They were drawn into two groups of five teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the round-robin final stage, where the top two teams qualified for the World Cup. The third-placed team entered the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off.

Final stage

Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Brazil 3 9
2  Chile 3 4
3  Argentina 3 3
4  Colombia 3 1
Source: CONMEBOL

OFC

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the OFC Women's Nations Cup served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for OFC members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:

  • Qualifying stage: The four lowest-ranked teams based on previous regional performances of all women’s national teams (American Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji) entered the qualifying stage, which was held from 24 to 30 August 2018 in Fiji.[19] The winner qualified for the final tournament, joining the other seven teams which automatically qualified.
  • Final tournament: Eight teams played in the final tournament, which was held between 18 November to 1 December 2018 in New Caledonia.[19] They were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage (semi-finals and final) to decide the winner of the OFC Women's Nations Cup which qualified for the World Cup.

Knockout stage

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
28 November – Maré
 
 
 Papua New Guinea1
 
1 December – Nouméa
 
 Fiji5
 
 Fiji0
 
28 November – Lifou
 
 New Zealand8
 
 New Zealand8
 
 
 New Caledonia0
 
Third place match
 
 
1 December – Nouméa
 
 
 Papua New Guinea7
 
 
 New Caledonia1

UEFA

As in the previous World Cup cycle, UEFA organised a tournament for its members designed only for World Cup qualifying. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:[20]

  • Preliminary round: The 16 lowest-ranked teams of the 46 entrants according to their UEFA coefficient entered the preliminary round,[21] which was held from 3 to 11 April 2017. They were drawn into four groups of four teams, where each group played in single round-robin format at one of the pre-selected hosts. The four group winners and the best runner-up (not counting results against the fourth-placed team) advanced to the qualifying group stage.
  • Qualifying group stage: 35 teams, including the 30 highest-ranked teams which received byes and the five qualifiers from the preliminary round, played in the qualifying group stage, which was held on dates in the FIFA Women's International Match Calendar from 11 September 2017 to 4 September 2018. They were drawn into seven groups of five teams, where each group was played in home-and-away round-robin format. The seven group winners qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, while the four best runners-up (not counting results against the fifth-placed team) advanced to the play-offs.
  • Play-offs: The four teams played two knockout rounds of home-and-away two-legged matches, which were held from 1 to 9 October and 5 to 13 November 2018, where the winner of the play-off final round qualified for the World Cup.

Qualifying group stage

  Qualification to 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup
  Advance to play-offs
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  England 8 22
2  Wales 8 17
3  Russia 8 13
4  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 3
5  Kazakhstan 8 3
Source: UEFA
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Scotland 8 21
2   Switzerland 8 19
3  Poland 8 11
4  Albania 8 4
5  Belarus 8 3
Source: UEFA
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Norway 8 21
2  Netherlands 8 19
3  Republic of Ireland 8 13
4  Northern Ireland 8 3
5  Slovakia 8 3
Source: UEFA
Group 4 Group 5 Group 6
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Sweden 8 21
2  Denmark 8 16
3  Ukraine 8 13
4  Hungary 8 4
5  Croatia 8 3
Source: UEFA
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Germany 8 21
2  Iceland 8 17
3  Czech Republic 8 14
4  Slovenia 8 6
5  Faroe Islands 8 0
Source: UEFA
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Italy 8 21
2  Belgium 8 19
3  Portugal 8 11
4  Romania 8 5
5  Moldova 8 1
Source: UEFA
Group 7
Pos Team Pld Pts
1  Spain 8 24
2  Austria 8 16
3  Finland 8 10
4  Serbia 8 7
5  Israel 8 1
Source: UEFA

Ranking of second-placed teams (only results against first, third and fourth-placed teams taken into account)

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 3  Netherlands 6 4 1 1 16 2 +14 13 Play-offs
2 2   Switzerland 6 4 1 1 13 5 +8 13
3 6  Belgium 6 4 1 1 9 6 +3 13
4 4  Denmark 6 4 0 2 17 7 +10 12
5 5  Iceland 6 3 2 1 9 6 +3 11
6 1  Wales 6 3 2 1 5 3 +2 11
7 7  Austria 6 3 1 2 11 7 +4 10
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) away goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) coefficient.

Play-offs

The play-off final winner qualifies for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

  Play-off semi-finals Play-off final
                         
 Netherlands 2 2 4  
 Denmark 0 1 1  
     Netherlands 3 1 4
    Switzerland 0 1 1
 Belgium 2 1 3
  Switzerland (a) 2 1 3  

CONMEBOL–CONCACAF play-off

The inter-confederation play-off was contested between CONCACAF's fourth-placed team Panama and CONMEBOL's third-placed team Argentina. The winners qualified for the World Cup. The draw for the order of legs was held on 9 June 2018 in Zürich during a meeting between the secretary generals of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. Argentina were drawn to host the first leg, while Panama (the identity of the team from CONCACAF was not known at time of draw) were drawn to host the second leg.[22]

The matches took place on 8 and 13 November 2018,[23][24][25] during the women's international match calendar period.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Argentina  5–1  Panama 4–0 1–1

Top goalscorers

There were 1562 goals scored in 392 matches, for an average of 3.98 goals per match.

19 goals

14 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

References and notes

  1. "France to host the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019". FIFA.com. 19 March 2015.
  2. "Circular #1565 - FIFA women's tournaments 2018-2019" (PDF). FIFA.com. 11 November 2016.
  3. "FIFA leaves berths unchanged for 2019 Women's World Cup". The Big Story. Associated Press. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  4. "Suspension of the Guatemala Football Association". FIFA.com. 28 October 2016.
  5. "Suspension of the Kuwait Football Association". FIFA.com. 16 October 2015.
  6. "Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019". FIFA.com. 5 October 2017.
  7. Kolasa, Matthew (24 July 2018). "The Beautiful Game Fails Women". Fair Observer.
  8. "AFC Women's Asian Cup 2018 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  9. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2017" (PDF). AFC. 12 April 2016.
  10. "Teams set to find out path to AFC Women's Asian Cup Jordan 2018". AFC. 20 January 2017.
  11. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2018" (PDF). AFC. 12 April 2016.
  12. "Jordan to host AFC Women's Asian Cup 2018 finals". AFC. 4 September 2016.
  13. "Nigeria draw bye in 2018 Women's AFCON qualifiers". busybuddiesng.com. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  14. "GHANA TO HOST 2018 AFRICA WOMEN CUP OF NATIONS". dhakaba.com. 28 September 2016. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  15. "Decisions of the CAF Executive Committee of 14 March 2017". CAFonline.com. 14 March 2017.
  16. "United States Set to Host 2018 Concacaf Women's Championship in October". CONCACAF.com. 23 March 2018.
  17. "Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador y Argentina realizarán torneos sudamericanos femeninos". CONMEBOL.com. 25 April 2017.
  18. "La Copa América Femenina se celebrará del 4 al 22 de abril". CONMEBOL.com. 21 July 2017.
  19. "OFC Women's Nations Cup confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 12 March 2018.
  20. "Regulations of the UEFA European qualifying competition for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup 2017-19" (PDF). UEFA.
  21. "Coefficient Ranking of the Teams Participating in the Qualifying Competition" (PDF). UEFA.com.
  22. "Argentina to host intercontinental play-off first leg on road to France 2019". FIFA.com. 9 June 2018.
  23. "Fecha y sede para el repechaje" (in Spanish). Argentine Football Association. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  24. "Repechaje intercontinental femenino será el 8 y 13 de noviembre" (in Spanish). Panamanian Football Federation. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  25. "El juego Argentina ante Panamá cambió de sede" (in Spanish). Panamanian Football Federation. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
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