FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

FIFA Women's World Cup qualification is the process a national women's association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organized by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of berths awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams. The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals. For the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cups, the number of finalists increased from 16 to 24.[1] By 2023, the number will be 32.[2]

Qualification berths by continent

Teams in qualifying

Year	Teams
1991	49
1995	55
1999	69
2003	98
2007	129
2011	126
2015	134
2019	143

The table below lists the numbers of berths allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament.

Places in the intercontinental play-offs are indicated by fractional (".5") representations. Intercontinental play-offs are played as two home-and-away matches. The team that scores a greater aggregate number of goals qualifies for the World Cup. Away goals rule applies. If these rules fail to determine the winner, extra time and penalty shootouts are used.

"H" denotes an automatic spot for the host. Places in intercontinental play-offs are represented as fractions, with a place in a direct play-off being counted as 0.5 spots.

Places allocated for continents

Continental zone	1991 ^1	1995	1999	2003 ^2	2007	2011	2015	2019	2023
Africa	1	1	2	2	2	2	3	3	4
Asia	3	2	3	2.5+H	2.5+H	3	5	5	5+H
Oceania	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0+H
Europe	5	4+H	6	5	5	4.5+H	8	8+H	11
North and Central America and Caribbean	1	2	1.5+H	2.5	2.5	2.5	3.5+H	3.5	4
South America	1	1	1.5	2	2	2	2.5	2.5	3
Play-off tournament	did not exist								3
Total	12	12	16	16	16	16	24	24	32

• ¹ In 1991, China PR hosted the tournament, but the location was determined after Asian qualifying had been completed.
• ² Originally to be held in China PR, the tournament was moved to the United States. China retained its automatic qualifying status as original host.

Qualification competition entrants over time

Entrants in continental qualifying tournaments[3][4]

Continental zone	1991 (12)	1995 (12)	1999 (16)	2003 (16)	2007 (16)	2011 (16)	2015 (24)	2019 (24)	2023 (32)
Africa	8	8	15	22	35	24	26	24
Asia	9	4	11	18	17	17	20	24
Oceania	3	3	6	10	10	8	4	11	11
Europe	18	30	16^1	16^1	25^1	41	46	46
North and Central America and Caribbean	8	5	11^2	22^3	32	26	28	28
South America	3	5	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Total	49	55	69	98	129	126	134	143
Teams played	45	52	66	84	109	119	130	104
Matches played	111	135	152	195	263	355	406	392
Goals scored	445	655	803	867	1,032	1,436	1,686	1,562

• ¹ Only teams in European Class A could qualify for the Women's World Cup finals. Other sides could at best be promoted to Class A for subsequent tournament.
• ² A second Guatemalan side also competed, but their matches are not included in the list.
• ³ The United States (eventual hosts of the finals) competed in the qualifying tournament.

First appearance in qualification by team

Listed are the first appearance in the qualifying stages by a national team.[3] Teams that entered for the first time but withdrew before playing a match are written in italics.

WC	Europe	South America	North, Central America and Caribbean	Asia	Africa	Oceania	Total
1991	Belgium  Bulgaria  Czechoslovakia  Denmark  England  Finland  France  Germany  Hungary  Italy  Netherlands  Northern Ireland  Norway  Poland  Republic of Ireland  Spain  Sweden   Switzerland	Brazil  Chile  Venezuela	Canada  Costa Rica  Haiti  Jamaica  Mexico  Trinidad and Tobago  United States	China PR  Chinese Taipei  Hong Kong  Japan  North Korea  South Korea  Malaysia  Singapore  Thailand	Cameroon  Congo  Ghana  Guinea  Nigeria  Senegal  Zambia  Zimbabwe	Australia  New Zealand  Papua New Guinea	44
1995	Croatia  Czech Republic  Greece  Iceland  Latvia  Lithuania  Portugal  Romania  Russia  Scotland  Slovakia  Slovenia  Ukraine  Wales  FR Yugoslavia	Argentina  Bolivia  Ecuador	none	none	Angola  Sierra Leone  South Africa  Zambia	none	21
1999	none	Colombia  Paraguay  Peru  Uruguay	El Salvador  Guatemala  Guyana  Honduras  Puerto Rico	Guam  India  Kazakhstan  Philippines  Uzbekistan	DR Congo  Egypt  Kenya  Lesotho  Morocco  Mozambique  Namibia  Swaziland  Uganda	American Samoa  Fiji  Samoa	24
2003	Moldova	none	Bahamas  Belize  Dominica  Dominican Republic  Montserrat  Nicaragua  Panama  Saint Lucia  Suriname  U.S. Virgin Islands	Indonesia  Myanmar    Nepal  Vietnam	Botswana  Ivory Coast  Equatorial Guinea  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Gabon  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  São Tomé and Príncipe  Senegal  Tanzania  Zimbabwe	Cook Islands  Tahiti  Tonga  Vanuatu	21
2007	Austria  Belarus  Serbia and Montenegro	none	Antigua and Barbuda  Aruba  Barbados  Bermuda  British Virgin Islands  Cayman Islands  Grenada  Netherlands Antilles  Nicaragua  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Turks and Caicos Islands	Indonesia  Maldives	Algeria  Benin  Central African Republic  Congo  Djibouti  Kenya  Libya  Malawi  Namibia  Togo	New Caledonia  Solomon Islands  Tonga	28
2011	Armenia  Azerbaijan  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Estonia  Georgia  Israel  Macedonia  Malta  Serbia  Turkey	none	Anguilla  Belize  Cuba	Bangladesh  Iran  Jordan  Kyrgyzstan  Palestine	Botswana  Tunisia	Tahiti  Vanuatu	21
2015	Albania  Faroe Islands  Luxembourg  Montenegro	none	none	Bahrain  Bangladesh  Kuwait  Lebanon	Burkina Faso  Comoros  Rwanda  South Sudan	none	11
2019	Andorra  Kosovo	none	none	Iraq  Syria  Tajikistan  United Arab Emirates	Gambia  Libya	New Caledonia	9
2023		none				none

National teams results in World Cup preliminary competition (1991-2019)

Legend
Team has won the World Cup
Team has qualified for the main tournament through a qualifying process
Team has not qualified for the main tournament
Team is not a member of FIFA and is not eligible for the main tournament (Martinique and Guadeloupe)

No.[n 1]	Team	App's[n 2]	Overall qualification record							Points[n 3]		Confederation
			Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Total point	Avg
1	Norway	8	68	56	7	5	223	39	184	175	2.574	UEFA
2	Germany	7	61	56	2	3	275	24	251	170	2.787	UEFA
3	Sweden	8	63	53	5	5	226	37	189	164	2.603	UEFA
4	England	8	72	46	12	14	206	46	160	150	2.083	UEFA
5	Denmark	8	70	45	13	12	219	52	167	148	2.114	UEFA
6	Italy	8	76	45	13	18	196	63	133	148	1.947	UEFA
7	France	7	56	41	7	8	162	36	126	130	2.321	UEFA
8	Nigeria	8	46	42	2	2	177	19	158	128	2.783	CAF
9	Brazil	8	44	41	1	2	248	19	229	124	2.818	CONMEBOL
10	Netherlands	8	64	38	10	16	160	57	103	124	1.937	UEFA
11	Russia	7	56	36	7	13	127	72	55	115	2.054	UEFA
12	Spain	8	60	34	11	15	175	57	118	113	1.883	UEFA
13	Scotland	7	56	32	5	19	147	81	66	101	1.804	UEFA
14	Iceland	7	56	30	10	16	131	57	74	100	1.786	UEFA
15	Trinidad and Tobago	8	55	31	6	18	181	97	84	99	1.800	CONCACAF
16	Switzerland	8	70	30	9	31	137	118	19	99	1.414	UEFA
17	United States	7	33	32	0	1	184	5	179	96	2.909	CONCACAF
18	Japan	8	45	30	6	9	170	29	141	96	2.133	AFC
19	Ukraine	7	60	28	10	22	118	92	26	94	1.567	UEFA
20	Poland	8	60	29	6	25	112	90	22	93	1.550	UEFA
21	Finland	8	60	28	9	23	100	79	21	93	1.550	UEFA
22	China PR	8	39	29	4	6	154	20	134	91	2.333	AFC
23	Argentina	7	48	27	6	15	115	65	50	87	1.813	CONMEBOL
24	Hungary	8	64	25	10	29	122	139	-17	85	1.328	UEFA
25	New Zealand	8	32	28	0	4	252	9	243	84	2.265	OFC
26	Czech Republic (1993-)  Czechoslovakia (1991-1992)	8	58	24	11	23	136	98	38	83	1.431	UEFA
27	Australia	8	37	25	7	5	170	18	152	82	2.216	OFC
28	South Africa	6	44	25	6	13	125	61	64	81	1.841	CAF
29	Haiti	6	44	26	2	16	99	76	23	80	1.818	CONCACAF
30	Costa Rica	7	43	26	1	16	109	68	41	79	1.837	CONCACAF
31	Canada	7	31	26	0	5	155	19	136	78	2.516	CONCACAF
32	Republic of Ireland	7	50	23	7	20	70	54	16	76	1.520	UEFA
33	Belgium	8	62	23	7	32	126	115	11	76	1.226	UEFA
34	Jamaica	6	43	23	3	17	153	76	77	72	1.674	CONCACAF
35	Serbia (2006-) Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006) Yugoslavia (1992-2003)	6	50	22	6	22	85	101	-16	72	1.440	UEFA
36	Romania	7	56	19	13	24	119	79	40	70	1.250	UEFA
37	Mexico	8	41	22	3	16	111	83	28	69	1.683	CONCACAF
38	Cameroon	7	41	20	9	12	69	55	14	69	1.683	CAF
39	North Korea	6	32	21	5	6	140	19	121	68	2.215	AFC
40	Ghana	7	35	22	2	11	72	34	38	68	1.943	CAF
41	Slovakia	7	52	21	3	28	101	95	6	66	1.269	UEFA
42	Wales	7	50	18	8	24	79	100	-21	62	1.240	UEFA
43	Thailand	7	33	19	2	12	77	93	-16	59	1.788	AFC
44	Colombia	6	34	17	7	10	75	61	14	58	1.706	CONMEBOL
45	Austria	5	40	17	4	19	78	67	11	55	1.375	UEFA
46	Israel	6	51	17	4	30	51	125	-74	55	1.078	UEFA
47	Portugal	7	52	17	3	32	83	122	-39	54	1.038	UEFA
48	South Korea	8	34	15	8	11	101	51	50	53	1.559	AFC
49	Belarus	6	48	15	4	29	75	114	-39	49	1.021	UEFA
50	Vietnam	5	28	16	0	12	90	57	33	48	1.714	AFC
51	Papua New Guinea	8	32	16	0	16	71	135	-64	48	1.500	OFC
52	Chinese Taipei	8	31	14	5	12	57	53	4	47	1.516	AFC
53	Croatia	6	48	12	9	27	51	107	-56	45	0.938	UEFA
54	Chile	8	34	12	6	16	59	68	-9	42	1.235	CONMEBOL
55	Ecuador	6	33	12	6	15	49	80	-31	42	1.273	CONMEBOL
56	Guatemala	5	26	13	0	13	53	55	-2	39	1.500	CONCACAF
57	Jordan	3	20	12	1	7	96	38	58	37	1.850	AFC
58	Paraguay	6	25	12	1	12	51	52	-1	37	1.480	CONMEBOL
59	Slovenia	5	38	12	0	26	46	147	-101	36	0.947	UEFA
60	Myanmar	5	26	11	2	13	61	54	7	35	1.346	AFC
61	Panama	4	23	11	2	10	54	57	-3	35	1.522	CONCACAF
62	Uzbekistan	6	22	11	1	10	64	54	10	34	1.545	AFC
63	Mali	4	28	9	7	12	36	51	-15	34	1.214	CAF
64	Algeria	4	21	10	3	8	29	34	-5	33	1.571	CAF
65	Turkey	5	35	10	3	22	51	99	-48	33	0.943	UEFA
66	Dominican Republic	5	16	9	2	5	36	28	8	29	1.813	CONCACAF
67	Ivory Coast	5	21	6	11	4	32	27	5	29	1.381	CAF
68	Cuba	3	18	9	1	8	48	52	-4	28	1.556	CONCACAF
69	Northern Ireland	5	38	7	5	26	23	94	-71	26	0.684	UEFA
70	Saint Kitts and Nevis	4	15	8	1	6	39	40	-1	25	1.667	CONCACAF
71	Antigua and Barbuda	4	23	8	1	14	19	70	-51	25	1.087	CONCACAF
72	Greece	7	45	8	1	36	43	151	-108	25	0.556	UEFA
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	48	7	4	37	30	181	-151	25	0.521	UEFA
74	DR Congo	4	18	7	3	8	29	33	-4	24	1.333	CAF
75	Puerto Rico	5	19	7	3	9	49	67	-18	24	1.263	CONCACAF
76	Estonia	6	43	7	3	33	32	169	-137	24	0.558	UEFA
77	Zimbabwe	3	13	7	2	4	21	9	12	23	1.769	CAF
78	Bermuda	3	18	7	2	9	33	51	-18	23	1.278	CONCACAF
79	Peru	6	27	6	5	16	24	60	-36	23	0.851	CONMEBOL
80	Equatorial Guinea	5	20	6	4	10	34	51	-17	22	1.100	CAF
81	Saint Lucia	5	16	7	1	8	31	56	-25	22	1.375	CONCACAF
82	Philippines	6	21	7	1	13	37	87	-50	22	1.048	AFC
83	Hong Kong	7	23	7	1	15	19	80	-61	22	0.957	AFC
84	Albania	2	24	6	3	15	19	81	-62	21	0.875	UEFA
85	Senegal	5	15	6	2	7	23	19	4	20	1.333	CAF
86	Guyana	3	15	6	2	7	29	43	-14	20	1.333	CONCACAF
87	Zambia	5	20	5	5	10	26	47	-21	20	1.000	CAF
88	Fiji	3	15	6	2	7	34	63	-29	20	1.333	OFC
89	Bulgaria	5	34	5	5	24	19	128	-99	20	0.588	UEFA
90	Uruguay	6	25	5	3	17	23	74	-51	18	0.720	CONMEBOL
91	Faroe Islands	2	24	5	3	16	19	101	-82	18	0.750	UEFA
92	Kazakhstan	5	37	5	3	29	21	114	-93	18	0.487	UEFA
93	Tanzania	4	17	4	5	8	29	42	-13	17	1.000	CAF
94	Venezuela	7	24	5	2	17	25	79	-54	17	0.708	CONMEBOL
95	Angola	4	13	4	4	5	19	19	0	16	1.231	UEFA
96	India	5	16	5	1	10	38	50	-12	16	1.000	AFC
97	U.S. Virgin Islands	5	16	5	1	10	18	47	-29	16	1.000	CONCACAF
98	Martinique	4	18	5	1	12	23	78	-55	16	0.889	CONCACAF
99	Suriname	4	16	5	0	11	25	38	-13	15	0.938	CONCACAF
100	Barbados	4	12	4	2	6	16	20	-4	14	1.167	CONCACAF
101	Moldova	4	25	4	2	19	16	90	-74	14	0.560	UEFA
102	Kenya	3	9	4	1	4	12	14	-2	13	1.444	CAF
103	Ethiopia	4	13	3	3	7	26	25	1	12	0.923	CAF
104	Curaçao (2014-)  Netherlands Antilles (2006[n 4]-2010)	2	7	4	0	3	8	14	-6	12	1.714	CONCACAF
105	Malta	4	30	3	3	24	17	123	-106	12	0.400	UEFA
106	Bahrain	2	8	3	2	3	15	20	-5	11	1.375	AFC
107	El Salvador	6	16	3	2	11	23	56	-33	11	0.688	CONCACAF
108	Bolivia	7	26	3	2	21	26	134	-118	11	0.423	CONMEBOL
109	Congo	2	6	2	1	3	15	11	4	10	1.667	CAF
110	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	4	11	3	1	7	11	11	0	10	0.909	CONCACAF
111	Morocco	6	13	1	7	5	6	19	-13	10	0.769	CAF
112	Cook Islands	4	15	3	1	11	8	63	-55	10	0.667	OFC
113	Mozambique	2	5	3	0	2	19	14	5	9	1.800	CAF
114	Iran	3	9	3	0	6	24	31	-7	9	1.000	CAF
115	Solomon Islands	3	11	2	3	6	8	27	-19	9	0.818	OFC
116	Namibia	4	9	2	2	5	7	25	-18	8	0.889	CAF
117	Georgia	3	14	2	2	10	11	52	-41	8	0.571	UEFA
118	Montenegro	2	16	2	2	12	20	63	-43	8	0.500	UEFA
119	Tonga	4	12	2	2	8	5	58	-53	8	0.667	OFC
120	Lithuania	4	16	2	2	12	10	82	-72	8	0.500	UEFA
121	Gabon	2	6	2	1	3	10	9	1	7	1.167	CAF
122	United Arab Emirates	1	5	2	1	2	5	11	-6	7	1.400	AFC
123	Honduras	4	11	2	1	8	22	33	-11	7	0.636	CONCACAF
124	Nicaragua	4	9	2	1	6	7	28	-21	7	0.778	CONCACAF
125	Guinea	3	8	2	1	5	6	29	-23	7	0.875	CAF
126	Togo	1	4	2	0	2	10	12	-2	6	1.500	CAF
127	Benin	1	6	1	3	2	4	6	-2	6	1.000	CAF
128	Lesotho	2	6	2	0	4	5	15	-10	6	1.000	CAF
129	New Caledonia	1	5	2	0	3	9	23	-14	6	1.200	OFC
130	Latvia	3	10	1	3	6	8	25	-17	6	0.600	UEFA
131	Vanuatu	2	6	2	0	4	4	26	-22	6	1.000	OFC
132	Kyrgyzstan	2	9	2	0	7	10	40	-30	6	0.667	AFC
133	Tunisia	2	6	1	2	3	9	9	0	5	0.833	CAF
134	Egypt	3	9	1	2	6	6	24	-18	5	0.556	CAF
135	Dominica	4	11	1	2	8	7	46	-39	5	0.455	CONCACAF
136	Cayman Islands	2	5	1	1	3	6	10	-4	4	0.800	CONCACAF
137	Tahiti	2	6	1	1	4	13	21	-8	4	0.667	OFC
138	Malaysia	1	4	1	1	2	1	24	-23	4	1.000	AFC
139	Palestine	3	9	1	1	7	6	41	-35	4	0.444	AFC
140	Azerbaijan	1	8	1	1	6	2	60	-58	4	0.500	UEFA
141	Samoa	3	9	1	1	7	8	77	-69	4	0.444	OFC
142	Singapore	4	15	1	1	13	2	73	-71	4	0.267	AFC
143	Lebanon	1	3	1	0	2	12	10	2	3	1.000	AFC
144	Uganda	2	6	0	3	3	3	7	-4	3	0.500	CAF
145	Burkina Faso	2	4	1	0	3	3	9	-6	3	0.750	CAF
146	Gambia	1	4	1	0	3	3	10	-7	3	0.750	CAF
147	Rwanda	1	4	1	0	3	3	14	-11	3	0.750	CAF
148	Anguilla	2	6	1	0	5	3	22	-19	3	0.500	CONCACAF
149	Tajikistan	1	5	1	0	4	3	23	-20	3	0.600	AFC
150	Aruba	3	9	1	0	8	3	29	-26	3	0.333	CONCACAF
151	Malawi	1	2	0	1	1	0	1	-1	1	0.500	CAF
152	Indonesia	1	2	0	1	1	0	4	-4	1	0.500	AFC
153	Central African Republic	2	3	0	1	2	1	7	-6	1	0.333	CAF
154	Eritrea	2	4	0	1	3	8	16	-8	1	0.250	CAF
155	Sierra Leone	2	4	0	1	3	3	15	-12	1	0.250	CAF
156	Luxembourg	2	6	0	1	5	4	29	-25	1	0.167	UEFA
157	Grenada	3	9	0	1	8	3	50	-47	1	0.111	CONCACAF
158	North Macedonia	2	18	0	1	17	9	142	-133	1	0.056	UEFA
159	Botswana	2	4	0	0	4	3	10	-7	0	0.000	CAF
160	British Virgin Islands	1	2	0	0	2	1	8	-7	0	0.000	CONCACAF
161	Djibouti	1	1	0	0	1	0	7	-7	0	0.000	CAF
162	Kosovo	1	3	0	0	3	3	12	-9	0	0.000	UEFA
163	Andorra	1	3	0	0	3	0	13	-13	0	0.000	UEFA
164	Comoros	1	1	0	0	1	0	13	-13	0	0.000	CAF
165	Bangladesh	1	3	0	0	3	0	15	-15	0	0.000	AFC
166	Libya	1	2	0	0	2	0	15	-15	0	0.000	CAF
167	São Tomé and Príncipe	2	4	0	0	4	0	17	-17	0	0.000	CAF
168	Eswatini (2023-) Swaziland (1998-2019)	2	4	0	0	4	1	18	-17	0	0.000	CAF
169	Bahamas	1	3	0	0	3	1	19	-18	0	0.000	CONCACAF
170	Maldives	1	4	0	0	4	0	20	-20	0	0.000	AFC
171	Iraq	1	5	0	0	5	0	22	-22	0	0.000	AFC
172	Guadeloupe	1	3	0	0	3	0	27	-27	0	0.000	CONCACAF
173	Turks and Caicos Islands	3	8	0	0	8	1	31	-30	0	0.000	CONCACAF
174	American Samoa	2	5	0	0	5	0	35	-35	0	0.000	OFC
175	Belize	2	5	0	0	5	2	40	-38	0	0.000	CONCACAF
176	Syria	1	4	0	0	4	0	38	-38	0	0.000	AFC
177	Armenia	1	8	0	0	8	1	42	-41	0	0.000	UEFA
178	Kuwait	1	3	0	0	3	1	51	-50	0	0.000	AFC
179	Guam	3	9	0	0	9	2	68	-66	0	0.000	AFC

Footnotes

1. Teams are ranked by total points, by goal difference, by goals scored, then by alphebetical order of team. Note that this column does not represent any official rankings.
2. Only qualifying campaigns are counted where the team played at least one match that was not annulled.
3. The three points for a win system is used.
4. Games played in 2005 were not recognized by FIFA.

See also

• National team appearances in the FIFA Women's World Cup
• FIFA World Cup qualification

References

1. "Regulations FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015" (PDF). FIFA.com. FIFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
2. "FIFA Council unanimously approves expanded 32-team field for FIFA Women's World Cup". FIFA.com. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
3. "FIFA Women's World Cup – Previous Tournaments". FIFA.com. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
4. Fahmy, Mustapha. "Increase participation and competitions" (ppt). FIFA. Retrieved 19 January 2017.

External links