2015_FIFA_Women's_World_Cup_qualification
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
International football competition
The qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup determined which 23 teams joined Canada, the hosts of the 2015 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 4 April 2013 – 2 December 2014 |
| Teams | 134 (from 6 confederations) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 406 |
| Goals scored | 1,686 (4.15 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Vivianne Miedema (16 goals) |
← 2011 2019 → | |
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 on 11 June 2012:[1]
- AFC (Asia): 5 slots (up from 3)
- CAF (Africa): 3 slots (up from 2)
- CONCACAF (North/Central America, Caribbean): 3.5+1 (host) slots (up from 2.5)
- CONMEBOL (South America): 2.5 slots (up from 2)
- OFC (Oceania): 1 slot (same as 2011)
- UEFA (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.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualification date | Appearance in final |
Consecutive streak |
Previous best performance | FIFA Ranking1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Canada | Hosts | 3 March 2011 | 6th | 6 | Fourth place (2003) | 8 |
 Japan | 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup winner | 18 May 2014 | 7th | 7 | Winners (2011) | 3 |
 Australia | 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup runner-up | 18 May 2014 | 6th | 6 | Quarterfinals (2007, 2011) | 10 |
 China | 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup 3rd place | 17 May 2014 | 6th | 1 | Runners-up (1999) | 14 |
 South Korea | 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup 4th place | 17 May 2014 | 2nd | 1 | First round (2003) | 17 |
 Thailand | 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup 5th place | 21 May 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 30 |
 Switzerland | UEFA qualification group 3 winner | 15 June 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 18 |
 England | UEFA qualification group 6 winner | 21 August 2014 | 4th | 3 | Quarterfinals (1995, 2007, 2011) | 7 |
 Norway | UEFA qualification group 5 winner | 13 September 2014 | 7th | 7 | Winners (1995) | 9 |
 Germany | UEFA qualification group 1 winner | 13 September 2014 | 7th | 7 | Winners (2003, 2007) | 2 |
 Spain | UEFA qualification group 2 winner | 13 September 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 16 |
 France | UEFA qualification group 7 winner | 13 September 2014 | 3rd | 2 | Fourth place (2011) | 4 |
 Sweden | UEFA qualification group 4 winner | 17 September 2014 | 7th | 7 | Runners-up (2003) | 5 |
 Brazil | 2014 Copa América Femenina winner | 26 September 2014 | 7th | 7 | Runners-up (2007) | 6 |
 Colombia | 2014 Copa América Femenina runner-up | 28 September 2014 | 2nd | 2 | First round (2011) | 31 |
 Nigeria | 2014 African Women's Championship winner | 22 October 2014 | 7th | 7 | Quarterfinals (1999) | 35 |
 Cameroon | 2014 African Women's Championship runner-up | 22 October 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 51 |
 United States | 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship winner | 24 October 2014 | 7th | 7 | Winners (1991, 1999) | 1 |
 Costa Rica | 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship runner-up | 24 October 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 40 |
 Ivory Coast | 2014 African Women's Championship 3rd place | 25 October 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 64 |
 Mexico | 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship 3rd place | 26 October 2014 | 3rd | 2 | First round (1999, 2011) | 25 |
 New Zealand | 2014 OFC Women's Nations Cup winner | 29 October 2014 | 4th | 3 | First round (1991, 2007, 2011) | 19 |
| Netherlands | UEFA qualification play-off winner | 27 November 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 15 |
 Ecuador | CONMEBOL-CONCACAF play-off winner | 2 December 2014 | 1st | 1 | Debut | 49 |
| Confederation | Tournament | Nations started | Qualified | Slots | Qualification started | Qualification ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup | 20 | 5 | 5 | 21 May 2013 | 21 May 2014 |
| CAF | 2014 African Women's Championship | 26 | 3 | 3 | 14 February 2014 | 25 October 2014 |
| CONCACAF | 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship | 28+11 | 3+1 | 3½+1 | 19 May 2014 | 2 December 2014 |
| CONMEBOL | 2014 Copa América Femenina | 10 | 3 | 2½ | 11 September 2014 | 2 December 2014 |
| OFC | 2014 OFC Women's Nations Cup | 4 | 1 | 1 | 25 October 2014 | 29 October 2014 |
| UEFA | 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA) | 46 | 8 | 8 | 4 April 2013 | 27 November 2014 |
| Total | 134+1 | 23+1 | 23+1 | 4 April 2013 | 2 December 2014 |
- 1 30 nations started, but Martinique and Guadeloupe are not eligible for World Cup qualification. They are only members of CONCACAF and not FIFA.
AFC
- Main article: 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup
(20 teams competing for 5 berths)
As in the previous World Cup cycle, the 2014 AFC Women's Asian 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.[3] North Korea was banned from the tournament due to the sanction on their doping cases in 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.[4]
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 served as the qualification tournament for the Women's World Cup. The qualifying 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
| Semifinals | Final | |||||
| 22 October | ||||||
| Nigeria | 2 | |||||
| 25 October | ||||||
 South Africa | 1 | |||||
| Nigeria | 2 | |||||
| 22 October | ||||||
| Cameroon | 0 | |||||
| Cameroon (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||
| Ivory Coast | 1 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 25 October | ||||||
| South Africa | 0 | |||||
| Ivory Coast | 1 | |||||
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 served as the region's qualification tournament. A total of 30 teams entered qualifying, 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. 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.[5] The United States and Mexico received byes to the tournament's final round, where they were joined by Costa Rica and Guatemala from Central America and by Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, and Trinidad and Tobago 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.[6][7]
Knockout stage
| Semifinals | Final | |||||
| 24 October | ||||||
| Costa Rica (pen.) | 1 (3) | |||||
| 26 October | ||||||
 Trinidad and Tobago | 1 (0) | |||||
| Costa Rica | 0 | |||||
| 24 October | ||||||
| United States | 6 | |||||
| United States | 3 | |||||
| Mexico | 0 | |||||
| Third place match | ||||||
| 26 October | ||||||
| Trinidad and Tobago | 2 | |||||
| Mexico (a.e.t.) | 4 | |||||
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 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 served as the qualifying tournament.
Only four OFC teams played in the tournament, held in Papua New Guinea from 25 to 29 October 2014.[8] That was fewer than in the last four editions of the tournament. The winner qualified.
Final stage
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Zealand |
3 | 9 |
| 2 |  Papua New Guinea (H) |
3 | 6 |
| 3 |  Cook Islands |
3 | 1 |
| 4 |  Tonga |
3 | 1 |
New Zealand qualified for the World Cup.
UEFA
- Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (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
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany |
10 | 30 |
| 2 |  Russia |
10 | 22 |
| 3 |  Republic of Ireland |
10 | 17 |
| 4 |  Croatia |
10 | 8 |
| 5 |  Slovenia |
10 | 6 |
| 6 |  Slovakia |
10 | 4 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain |
10 | 28 |
| 2 |  Italy |
10 | 25 |
| 3 |  Czech Republic |
10 | 14 |
| 4 |  Romania |
10 | 11 |
| 5 |  Estonia |
10 | 7 |
| 6 |  Macedonia |
10 | 1 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland |
10 | 28 |
| 2 |  Iceland |
10 | 19 |
| 3 |  Denmark |
10 | 18 |
| 4 |  Israel |
10 | 12 |
| 5 |  Serbia |
10 | 10 |
| 6 |  Malta |
10 | 0 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden |
10 | 30 |
| 2 |  Scotland |
10 | 24 |
| 3 |  Poland |
10 | 16 |
| 4 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina |
10 | 9 |
| 5 |  Northern Ireland |
10 | 5 |
| 6 |  Faroe Islands |
10 | 2 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway |
10 | 27 |
| 2 | Netherlands |
10 | 25 |
| 3 |  Belgium |
10 | 19 |
| 4 |  Portugal |
10 | 12 |
| 5 |  Greece |
10 | 3 |
| 6 |  Albania |
10 | 3 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England |
10 | 30 |
| 2 |  Ukraine |
10 | 22 |
| 3 |  Wales |
10 | 19 |
| 4 |  Turkey |
10 | 12 |
| 5 |  Belarus |
10 | 6 |
| 6 |  Montenegro |
10 | 0 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France |
10 | 30 |
| 2 |  Austria |
10 | 21 |
| 3 |  Finland |
10 | 21 |
| 4 |  Hungary |
10 | 12 |
| 5 |  Kazakhstan |
10 | 4 |
| 6 |  Bulgaria |
10 | 1 |
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
| Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Scotland
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Netherlands
| 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Netherlands
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Italy
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Italy
| 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Ukraine
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||
Netherlands qualified for the World Cup.
The play-off was contested between Trinidad and Tobago, CONCACAF's fourth-placed team, and Ecuador, CONMEBOL's third-placed team. The draw for the order of legs was held in Zürich on 22 July 2014.[9] Ecuador hosted the first leg on 8 November 2014, and Trinidad and Tobago hosted the second leg on 2 December 2014.[10]
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecuador |
1–0 | Trinidad and Tobago |
0–0 | 1–0 |
Ecuador qualified for the World Cup.
- "Qualification slots for Canada 2015 confirmed". FIFA.com. 11 June 2012. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012.
- "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA.com. Zürich, Switzerland: FIFA. 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
- "Women's giants to know opponents". Asian Football Confederation. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
- "VN eyes Women's World Cup on 'golden chance'". Tuổi Trẻ. 26 September 2012. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
- "Host Cities and Qualification Format Announced for CONCACAF Women's Championship 2014". concacaf.com. 24 July 2014. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- "Draw Yields Matchups for CONCACAF Women's Championship USA 2014". concacaf.com. 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- "CONCACAF Women's Championship USA 2014 Regulations". CONCACAF. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- "OFC Women's Nations Cup dates finalised". Oceania Football Confederation. 23 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- "New international calendar for women's football in the spotlight". FIFA.com. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014.
- "@FIFAWWC". Twitter. 21 October 2014.