The inter-confederation play-offs[a] of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification will determine the final three qualification spots for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The play-off tournament will be used as a test event for New Zealand to host prior to the Women's World Cup. It will take place from 18 to 23 February 2023,[2] and will feature ten teams split into three groups, with the winner of each group qualifying for the Women's World Cup. New Zealand and another guest national team to be determined will also play friendlies against participating teams and each other as part of the event.[1]
Format
On 24 December 2020, the Bureau of the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation and format of the play-off tournament.
The play-off tournament will be held in New Zealand as a test event prior to their hosting of 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. It will feature ten teams, to be split into three groups of three (Group A and B) or four (Group C). The winner of each group will qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup. Four teams were seeded into groups based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings. In Groups A and B, two unseeded teams will face each other in a semi-final. The winner of the semi-final will advance to the play-off final, to play against the seeded team for a spot in the Women's World Cup. In Group C, the two seeded teams will face an unseeded team in the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals face each other in the play-off final for a spot in the Women's World Cup.[3]
New Zealand and an additional guest national team will participate in friendly matches as part of the event, first against one of the seeded teams in Groups A and B, and then twice against each other. Friendly matches will also take place between the semi-final loser of Groups A and B, as well as the two semi-final losers of Group C, thereby ensuring that all play-off teams play two matches at the event.[3]
New Zealand were confirmed as the sole host nation for the play-off tournament on 4 July 2022.[3] Australia were originally planned as co-hosts of the play-offs, with their national team participating in friendly matches.[4]
The play-off draw took place on 14 October 2022, 12:00 CEST (UTC+2), in Zürich, Switzerland.[5][6] Four teams were seeded into groups based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings of 13 October 2022 (shown in parentheses),[7] with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation. The UEFA team was automatically seeded into pot 1, so as to prevent three European teams from being drawn into the same group in the final tournament.[b] The highest-ranked team was placed in slot A1, the second-highest in slot B1, the third-highest in slot C1 and the fourth-highest in slot C2. The remaining six teams were unseeded and drawn into the remaining slots, with the condition that teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group. In the draw, the six unseeded teams were allocated to the first available group sequentially (from A to C, before repeating). After a team was selected, a separate draw then determined the team's position within their respective group for the purposes of the schedule.[9]
The match schedule and venues, without kick-off times, were confirmed on 4 July 2022.[3] The kick-off times were confirmed on 5 November 2022, after the play-off draw.[10] The semi-finals will take place from 18 to 19 February, while the finals will take place from 22 to 23 February 2023.[11]
^Officially known as the Play-Off Tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.[1]
^In the final tournament draw, geographical constraints dictated that teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group except for UEFA teams, for which there was at least one and no more than two per group. However, as the final tournament draw was held before the completion of the play-offs, the play-off winners would be represented by placeholders which adhered to the geographical constraints of only the seeded team(s) of each play-off group. Therefore, teams from the same confederation might ultimately end up in the same final tournament group.[8] However, FIFA wished to avoid the unlikely possibility of a final tournament group containing three UEFA teams, if the UEFA team in the play-offs were to be unseeded. Therefore, the UEFA team was automatically seeded into pot 1 of the play-off draw, regardless of their ranking.[9]
Chinese Taipei
Thailand
Cameroon
Senegal
Haiti
Panama
Paraguay
Chile
Papua New Guinea
Portugal
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