MANILA (25 Dec 2020) – Asia will get six slots for the 32-team FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
This was announced by the Bureau of the FIFA Council following the success of the 2019 edition.
The Bureau of the FIFA Council confirmed the following berths for the 2023 edition:
Direct slot allocation (29 of the 32 participation slots)
- 6 direct slots for the AFC;
- 4 direct slots for CAF;
- 4 direct slots for Concacaf;
- 3 direct slots for CONMEBOL;
- 1 direct slot for the OFC; and
- 11 direct slots for UEFA.
The two host countries, Australia and New Zealand, will automatically qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, and their slots have been taken directly from the quotas allocated to their confederations, namely the AFC and the OFC respectively.
Play-off tournament slot allocation (3)
The three remaining slots will be decided through a ten-team play-off tournament with the following play-off slot allocation:
- 2 play-off slots for the AFC;
- 2 play-off slots for CAF;
- 2 play-off slots for Concacaf;
- 2 play-off slots for CONMEBOL;
- 1 play-off slot for the OFC; and
- 1 play-off slot for UEFA.
Play-off tournament format
Four teams will be seeded in the tournament based on the latest FIFA Women’s World Ranking prior to the play-off draw, with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation.
- In Group 1, comprising three teams, seed 1 will play for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup against the winners of the knockout game involving the two unseeded teams in the group.
- In Group 2, comprising three teams, seed 2 will play for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup against the winners of the knockout game involving the two unseeded teams in the group.
- In Group 3, comprising four teams, seeds 3 and seed 4 will play against the two unseeded teams in the group, with the two winners then playing for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Teams from the same Confederation will not be permitted to be drawn in the same group.
The play-off tournament will be used as a test event in Australia and New Zealand for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and both hosts will be invited to participate in friendly matches against the teams in Group 1 and Group 2, thereby ensuring that all teams play two matches during the play-off tournament. – www.the-afc.com
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