The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided all 24 teams which played in the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

, with the hosts

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

qualifying automatically. It is the eighth

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

, the quadrennial international

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

world championship tournament. The tournament is the third to be hosted in Europe, after the

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Qualified teams

Qualification process

The slot allocation was approved by the FIFA Council on 13–14 October 2016. 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).

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 Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, whose football associations were suspended by FIFA, and

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

, which were banned from the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, and

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

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 The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. : : : * H: Hosts

Confederation qualification

AFC

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for AFC members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows: *Qualifying stage: The qualifying for the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held from 3 to 12 April 2017. 24 teams entered the competition, with

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

automatically qualified for the final tournament by their position as the top three teams of the

2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the competition, was a women's association football tournament competed by national teams in Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It served as the qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup ...

and thus not participating in the qualifying competition.

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

also automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, but decided to also participate in the qualifying competition. 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 The 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was originally schedu ...

, which was held from 6 to 20 April 2018 in

. They were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group qualified for the

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

Fifth place play-off

CAF

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the

Africa Women Cup of Nations The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by ...

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. *Final tournament: Eight teams played in the

2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations The 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (officially known as the Total Women's Africa Cup Of Nations, Ghana 2018) was the 13th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations (formerly African Women's Championship), the biennial international football ...

, which was held from 17 November to 1 December 2018 in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. 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

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.

Knockout stage

CONCACAF

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the

CONCACAF Women's Championship The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's association football competition for national teams organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) that often serves as the qualifying competition ...

served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows: *Qualifying stage: Regional qualification tournaments were held in the Central American Zone and the Caribbean Zone. Two teams from the Central American Zone and three teams from the Caribbean Zone qualified for the final tournament to join the three teams from the North American Zone,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, who qualified automatically. *Final tournament: Eight teams played in the

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, CONCACAF Women's Championship (also known as the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup or the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament), the quadrennial intern ...

, which was held from 4 to 17 October 2018 in the

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

and

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

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

CONMEBOL

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the

Copa América Femenina The Copa América Femenina (''Copa América Feminina'' in Portuguese), previously the ''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol Femenino'' (''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol Feminino''), usually shortened to ''Sudamericano Femenino'' (''Sul-America ...

served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

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 Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. 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

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 Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. 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 New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. 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

UEFA

As in the previous World Cup cycle,

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

organised a tournament for its members designed only for World Cup qualifying. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows: *Preliminary round: The 16 lowest-ranked teams of the 46 entrants according to their UEFA coefficient entered the preliminary round, 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

, 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

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

Play-offs

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.

Top goalscorers

References

External links

FIFA website
{{FIFA Women's World Cup

Qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

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2017 in women's association football 2018 in women's association football