The qualification for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

determined which 23 teams joined

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 ...

, the hosts of the 2015 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup. The field was expanded from 16 teams in the 2011 edition to 24 in the 2015 edition. As a result, a new distribution of slots to each confederation was announced by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

on 11 June 2012: * AFC (Asia): 5 slots (up from 3) *

CAF CAF or caf may refer to: Armed forces *Canadian Armed Forces (Canadian Forces), the Canadian Air Force, Army, and Navy *Canadian Air Force, now the Royal Canadian Air Force *Republic of China Air Force, the air force of the Republic of China (Tai ...

(Africa): 3 slots (up from 2) *

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 ...

(North/Central America, Caribbean): 3.5+1 (host) slots (up from 2.5) *

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 ...

(South America): 2.5 slots (up from 2) * OFC (Oceania): 1 slot (same as 2011) *

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 ...

(Europe): 8 slots (up from 4.5+1) A record of 134 FIFA member nations (not counting Canada) entered the qualifying tournaments. Additionally two non-FIFA nations entered the CONCACAF qualifying. Four African teams withdrew before playing any match. 2015 womens world cup qualification

Qualified teams

:1.The rankings are shown as of 19 September 2014 – the last rankings published prior to the official draw.

Qualifying tournaments

*¹ 30 nations started, but Martinique and Guadeloupe are not eligible for World Cup qualification. They are only members of CONCACAF and not FIFA.

Confederation qualification

AFC

: ''(20 teams competing for 5 berths)'' As in the previous World Cup cycle, 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 ...

served as the qualifying tournament. A total of 20 AFC teams competed for five berths. The final tournament, held in Vietnam from 14 to 25 May 2014, was competed by eight teams, four of which – Australia, China, Japan and South Korea – were automatically qualified though their 2010 placement, while the others were determined via a qualification tournament.

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

was banned from the tournament due to the sanction on their doping cases in

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 ...

Group stage

The top two teams from each group advanced to the semifinals of the tournament as well as qualifying for the World Cup. The third placed teams advanced to a playoff against each other to determine the fifth and final qualifying team from the AFC. Japan, Australia, China and South Korea qualified for the World Cup. Vietnam and Thailand advanced to the fifth-place play-off.

Fifth place play-off

Thailand qualified for the World Cup.

CAF

''(26 teams competing for 3 berths)'' As in the previous World Cup cycle, the

2014 African Women's Championship The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia. This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top ...

served as the qualification tournament for the Women's World Cup. The

qualifying 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 ...

saw a record entry of 25 CAF teams (26 if including final tournament host Namibia). Four teams though withdrew before playing any matches. A total of eight teams (the host nation and seven teams which came through the qualifying rounds) competed at the final tournament in Namibia from 11 to 25 October 2014. The top three teams of the final tournament qualified for the World Cup.

Knockout stage

Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup.

CONCACAF

''(28 teams competing for 3 or 4 berths, host nation Canada also qualifies)'' As with the previous World Cups, the

2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship, the ninth edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship/Gold Cup/Women's World Cup qualifying tournament, was a women's soccer tournament that took place in the United States between October 15 and 26, 2014 ...

served as the region's qualification tournament. A total of 30 teams entered

, with Martinique and Guadeloupe not eligible for World Cup qualification as they are only members of CONCACAF and not FIFA. Therefore, a total of 28 teams were in contention for the three direct places plus the play-off place against CONMEBOL's

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. Canada did not participate as they already qualified to the World Cup as hosts. The final tournament was held in the United States from 15 to 26 October 2014, and the final group draw took place on 5 September. 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 ...

and

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 ...

received byes to the tournament's final round, where they were joined by

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

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 ...

from Central America and by

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

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 ...

, and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

from the Caribbean zone. Both finalists and the third placed team qualified automatically to the 2015 Women's World Cup. The fourth placed team advanced to play the third placed team from CONMEBOL for an additional World Cup berth. It was announced during the Final Draw on 5 September that Martinique was not able to advance beyond the group round, and that the next best team would have taken their place in the semifinals if they finished in the top two in their group.

Knockout stage

United States, Costa Rica and Mexico qualified for the World Cup. Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the CONCACAF–CONMEBOL play-off.

CONMEBOL

''(10 teams competing for 2 or 3 berths)'' As with previous World Cup qualifications, the

2014 Copa América Femenina The 2014 Copa América Femenina was the seventh edition of the Copa América Femenina, an association football competition for women's national teams in South America affiliated with CONMEBOL. The tournament was played between 11 and 28 September 2 ...

served as the qualification tournament to the World Cup finals. All 10 CONMEBOL teams competed in the tournament, held in Ecuador from 11 to 28 September 2014. The top two teams of the second stage qualified directly for the World Cup, while the third placed team advanced to play the fourth placed team from CONCACAF for an additional World Cup berth.

Final stage

OFC

''(4 teams competing for 1 berth)'' As in the previous World Cup cycle, the

2014 OFC Women's Nations Cup The 2014 OFC Women's Nations Cup (also known as the 2014 OFC Women's Championship) was the 10th edition of the OFC Women's Nations Cup, and took place in Papua New Guinea from 25 to 29 October 2014. The association football, football tournament was ...

served as the qualifying tournament. Only four OFC teams played in the tournament, held in Papua New Guinea from 25 to 29 October 2014. That was fewer than in the last four editions of the tournament. The winner qualified.

Final stage

New Zealand qualified for the World Cup.

UEFA

: ''(46 teams competing for 8 berths)'' A record 46 UEFA teams entered qualification. The eight lowest teams entered the tournament in the preliminary round and were drawn into two groups of four, played in single round-robin format from 4 to 9 April 2013 in Malta and Lithuania respectively. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the group stage. The group stage was played in home-and-away round-robin format from 20 September 2013 to 17 September 2014. All seven group winners qualified directly to the final tournament, while the four runners-ups with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth, and fifth in their groups advanced to play-off matches for the remaining berth. The play-off matches were played in home-and-away two-legged format on 25/26 and 29/30 October (semi-finals), and 22/23 and 26/27 November 2014 (finals).

Group stage

Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, England and France qualified for the World Cup. Italy, Scotland, Netherlands and Ukraine advanced to the play-offs.

Play-offs

: Netherlands qualified for the World Cup.

CONMEBOL–CONCACAF play-off

The play-off was contested between

, CONCACAF's fourth-placed team, and

, CONMEBOL's third-placed team. The draw for the order of legs was held in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

on 22 July 2014. Ecuador hosted the first leg on 8 November 2014, and Trinidad and Tobago hosted the second leg on 2 December 2014. Ecuador qualified for the World Cup.

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 ...

FIFA Women's World Cup qualification