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FIFA released the breakdown of the 32-team women’s world cup tournament that New Zealand and Australia will host in 2023 on Thursday.
New Zealand and Australia, as hosts, have already qualified.
Europe will receive 11 direct spaces, Asia will have six, Africa four, North and Central America four, South America three and Oceania one in addition to the hosts.
The 2019 World Cup field featured nine teams from Europe, including host France, five from Asia, three from Africa and North and Central America, two from South America, one from Oceania and the playoff winner from the Americas. .
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Megan Rapinoe of the USA lifts the FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy in the 2019 tournament.
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The first Women’s World Cup, held in 1991 in China, had 12 participants.
Two more teams from the North America-Central America region will have the opportunity to join the World Cup field through a 10-team playoff tournament. The United States, Canada and Jamaica represented that confederation at the 24-team World Cup in France last year.
A fourth country, Panama, had a chance to qualify, but lost 5-1 to Argentina on aggregate in a home and away match in the confederation’s tiebreaker against South America.
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New Zealand head coach Tom Sermanni at the 2019 Cup.
Four teams will be seeded in the 2023 playoff tournament, based on the latest FIFA world rankings before the draw, with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation.
The teams will be divided into three groups, two from three countries and one from four, with teams from the same confederation separated.
The playoff tournament will serve as a test event in Australia and New Zealand, and both hosts will participate in friendly matches against Group 1 and Group 2 teams, ensuring that all teams play two matches during the competition.
In other tournament news, FIFA canceled the U-17 and U-20 World Cups scheduled for next year due to the pandemic. The next editions will now be held in 2023, with Indonesia still hosting the U20s and Peru the U17s.
FIFA says that “the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present challenges for the organization of international sporting events and has a restrictive effect on international travel.”
