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Today, the Bureau of the FIFA Council made several important decisions regarding upcoming FIFA competitions.
Following the astonishing success of the 2019 edition, a decision was made last year to expand the FIFA Women’s World Cup ™ to 32 teams to further foster the growth of women’s football. Since then, FIFA has worked closely with the confederations to formulate a proposal for the allocation of seats, and the FIFA Council Bureau today confirmed the following seats for the 2023 edition:
Direct allocation of spaces (29 of the 32 participation spaces)
- 6 direct slots for the AFC;
- 4 direct slots for CAF;
- 4 direct slots for Concacaf;
- 3 direct slots for CONMEBOL;
- 1 direct space for OFC; and
- 11 direct places for UEFA.
The two host countries, Australia and New Zealand, will automatically qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup ™, and their places have been taken directly from the quotas allocated to their confederations, namely the AFC and OFC respectively.
Allocation of places for knockout tournaments (3)
The remaining three spots will be decided by a ten-team tiebreaker tournament with the following tiebreaker spot allocation:
- 2 play-off spots for the AFC;
- 2 play-off spots for CAF;
- 2 play-off slots for Concacaf;
- 2 play-off slots for CONMEBOL;
- 1 play-off spot for OFC; and
- 1 play-off place for UEFA.
Knockout tournament format
Four teams will be seeded in the tournament based on the latest FIFA / Coca-Cola women’s world rankings before the play-off draw, with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation.
- In Group 1, made up of three teams, seeded 1 will play for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup against the winners of the tie involving the two unseeded teams in the group.
- In Group 2, made up of three teams, seed 2 will play for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup against the winners of the tie involving the two non-seeded teams in the group.
- In Group 3, which is made up of four teams, seeds 3 and 4 will play the two non-seeded teams in the group, with the two winners playing for a place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The draw of teams from the same confederation in the same group will not be allowed.
The tiebreaker 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 Group 1 and Group 2 teams, thus ensuring that all The teams play two games during the playoff tournament.
FIFA U-20 World Cup ™ and FIFA U-17 World Cup ™
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FIFA Council Bureau has decided to cancel the 2021 editions of the FIFA U-20 World Cup ™ and the FIFA U-17 World Cup ™ for men, and appoint Indonesia and Peru respectively, which were to host the tournaments in 2021, as hosts of the 2023 editions.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present challenges for the organization of international sporting events and has a restrictive effect on international travel. Therefore, FIFA has regularly consulted with relevant stakeholders, including the host member associations and confederations participating in both tournaments, originally scheduled to take place in 2021. In doing so, it became clear that the global situation has not been normalized to a sufficient level. to address the challenges associated with organizing both tournaments, including the feasibility of the relevant qualification pathways.
FIFA wishes to express its gratitude to the host member associations, as well as to the authorities of Indonesia and Peru, for their commitment and the preparations for the tournament so far. FIFA looks forward to continuing to work closely with host countries to organize successful tournaments.
