2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs)
International football competition
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The inter-confederation play-offs[a] of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification determined the final three qualification spots for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The play-off tournament was used as a test event for New Zealand to host prior to the Women's World Cup. It took place from 18 to 23 February 2023,[2] and featured ten teams split into three groups, with the winner of each group qualifying for the Women's World Cup. New Zealand and guests Argentina also played friendlies against participating teams and each other as part of the event.[1]
| Play-Off Tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | New Zealand |
| Dates | 18–23 February 2023 |
| Teams | 10 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venues | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 7 |
| Goals scored | 19 (2.71 per match) |
| Attendance | 6,261 (894 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Gabrielle Onguéné Roselord Borgella Melchie Dumornay(2 goals each) |
← 2019 2027 → | |
Format
On 24 December 2020, the Bureau of the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation and format of the play-off tournament.
- AFC (Asia): 2 slots
- CAF (Africa): 2 slots
- CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean): 2 slots
- CONMEBOL (South America): 2 slots
- OFC (Oceania): 1 slot
- UEFA (Europe): 1 slot
The play-off tournament was held in New Zealand as a test event prior to their hosting of 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. It featured ten teams, split into three groups of three (Group A and B) or four (Group C). The winner of each group qualified 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 faced each other in a semi-final. The winner of the semi-final advanced to the play-off final, playing against the seeded team for a spot in the Women's World Cup. In Group C, the two seeded teams faced an unseeded team in the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals faced each other in the play-off final for a spot in the Women's World Cup.[3]
New Zealand and Argentina (confirmed as guests on 8 December 2022) participated 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 also took 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 played two matches at the event.[3][4]
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 intended to participate in friendly matches.[5]
Qualified teams
The following teams from each confederation qualified for the play-off tournament.
| Confederation | Qualified as | Team |
|---|---|---|
| AFC | 2022 Women's Asian Cup play-offs runners-up |  Chinese Taipei |
| 2022 Women's Asian Cup play-offs third place |  Thailand | |
| CAF | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations repechage winners | Cameroon |
 Senegal | ||
| CONCACAF | 2022 W Championship Group A third place | Haiti |
| 2022 W Championship Group B third place |  Panama | |
| CONMEBOL | 2022 Copa América Femenina fourth place |  Paraguay |
| 2022 Copa América Femenina fifth place |  Chile | |
| OFC | 2022 Women's Nations Cup winners |  Papua New Guinea |
| UEFA | Lowest-ranked winners of UEFA play-offs |  Portugal |
Venues
The two venues for the tournament were confirmed by FIFA on 4 July 2022.[3]
| Hamilton | Auckland | |
|---|---|---|
| Waikato Stadium | North Harbour Stadium | |
| Capacity: 25,800 | Capacity: 22,000 | |
 |
 |
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Draw
The play-off draw took place on 14 October 2022, 12:00 CEST (UTC+2), in Zürich, Switzerland.[6][7] Four teams were seeded into groups based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings of 13 October 2022 (shown in parentheses),[8] with a maximum of one seeded team per confederation. The UEFA team was automatically seeded into pot 1, so as to prevent three or four 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.[10]
Squads
Each team had to provide to FIFA a preliminary squad of between 35 and 55 players, which was not to be published. From the preliminary squad, each team had to name a final squad of up to 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Players in the final squad could be replaced due to serious injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to the team's first match.[1]
Schedule
Group A
Group B
Group C
The winner of Group C entered Group F in the final tournament.
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 19 February 2023 – Hamilton | ||||||
| Chinese Taipei | 2 (2) | |||||
| 23 February 2023 – Hamilton | ||||||
| Paraguay (p) | 2 (4) | |||||
| Paraguay | 0 | |||||
| 19 February 2023 – Auckland | ||||||
| Panama | 1 | |||||
| Papua New Guinea | 0 | |||||
| Panama | 2 | |||||
Semi-finals
| Chinese Taipei | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | Paraguay |
|---|---|---|
|
Report | |
| Penalties | ||
| 2–4 | ||
Final
Goalscorers
There were 19 goals scored in 7 matches, for an average of 2.71 goals per match.
2 goals
1 goal
Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup
The following three teams qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup |
|---|---|---|
| Haiti | 22 February 2023 | 0 (debut) |
| Portugal | 22 February 2023 | 0 (debut) |
| Panama | 23 February 2023 | 0 (debut) |
Associated friendly matches
Friendly matches were scheduled during the play-off tournament in New Zealand. They had no bearing on qualification, but were considered by FIFA to be part of the event.[1]
Argentina  | 4–0 | Chile |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
New Zealand  | 0–2 | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Chinese Taipei | 5–0 | Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
| New Zealand | 0–1 | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for receiving a red card, which could be extended for serious offences.[1]
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
| Player | Offence(s) | Suspension(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Fatima Komé |
 in Women's Africa Cup of Nations repechage vs Botswana (17 July 2022) |
Group A semi-final vs Thailand (18 February 2023) |
| Ange Bawou |
in Group A semi-final vs Thailand (18 February 2023) |
Group A final vs Portugal (22 February 2023) |
Player of the Match award
A player of the match was named for each game at the tournament, including friendlies.
| Match | Player of the Match | Opponent | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's World Cup qualification | |||
| 1 | Gabrielle Onguéné |
Thailand |
[29] |
| 2 | Roselord Borgella |
Senegal |
[30] |
| 3 | Alicia Bobadilla |
Chinese Taipei |
[31] |
| 4 | Marta Cox |
Papua New Guinea |
[32] |
| 5 | Tatiana Pinto |
Cameroon |
[33] |
| 6 | Melchie Dumornay |
Chile |
[34] |
| 7 | Lineth Cedeño |
Paraguay |
[35] |
| Friendly matches | |||
| 1 | Ana Capeta |
New Zealand |
[36] |
| 2 | Florencia Bonsegundo |
Chile |
[36] |
| 3 | Mariana Larroquette |
New Zealand (first match) |
[37] |
| 4 | Phornphirun Philawan |
Senegal |
[38] |
| 5 | Lee Hsiu-chin |
Papua New Guinea |
[39] |
| 6 | Mariana Larroquette |
New Zealand (second match) |
[40] |
Notes
- 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.[9] However, FIFA wished to avoid the unlikely possibility of a final tournament group containing three or four 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.[10]