FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

FIFA Women's World Cup qualification is the process a national women's association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals, or, more commonly known as the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organised by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of spots awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams. 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification commenced in 2009 and will be completed by late 2010.

The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals.

History

Qualification spots by continent

The table below lists the numbers of spots allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament. Places in the intercontinental play-offs are indicated by fractional spots. A ⁺ or ^- respectively indicates the winners or losers of the intercontinental play-offs. "+H" denotes an additional spot for hosts.

Places allocated for continents

Continental zone	1991 1	1995	1999	2003 2	2007	2011	2015
Africa	1	1	2	2	2	2	3
Asia	3	2	3	3.5+	2.5++H	3	5
Oceania	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Europe	5	4+H	6	5	5	4.5-+H	8
North and Central America and Caribbean	1	2	1.5++H	1.5-+H	2.5-	2.5+	3.5+H
South America	1	1	1.5-	2	2	2	2.5
Total	12	12	16	16	16	16	24

• ¹ In 1991, China PR hosted the tournament, but the location was determined after Asian qualifying had been completed.
• ² Originally to be held in China PR, the tournament was moved to the United States.

Qualification competition entrants over time

Entrants in continental qualifying tournaments

Continental zone	1991 (12)	1995 (12)	1999 (16)	2003 (16)	2007 (16)	2011 (16)
Africa	8	8	15	22	35	24
Asia	9	4	11	18	17	17
Oceania	3	3	6	10	10	8
Europe	18	30	161	161	251	41
North and Central America and Caribbean	8	5	112	223	32	26
South America	3	5	10	10	10	10
Total	49	55	69	98	129	126
Teams played	45	52	66	84	109	119
Matches played	111	135	152	195	263	355
Goals scored	445	655	803	867	1,032	1,436

• ¹ Only teams in European Class A could qualify for the Women's World Cup finals. Other sides could at best be promoted to Class A for subsequent tournament.
• ² A second Guatemalan side also competed, but their matches are not included in the list.
• ³ The United States (eventual hosts of the finals) competed in the qualifying tournament.

First appearance in qualification by team

World Cup	Europe	South America	North, Central America and Caribbean	Asia	Africa	Oceania	Total
1991	Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark England Finland France Germany Hungary Italy Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Republic of Ireland Spain Sweden Switzerland	Brazil Chile Venezuela	Canada Costa Rica Haiti Jamaica Martinique Mexico Trinidad and Tobago United States	China Chinese Taipei Hong Kong Japan North Korea South Korea Malaysia Singapore Thailand	Cameroon Congo Ghana Guinea Nigeria Senegal Zambia Zimbabwe	Australia New Zealand Papua New Guinea	45
1995	Croatia Czech Republic Greece Iceland Latvia Lithuania Portugal Romania Russia Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine Wales Yugoslavia	Argentina Bolivia Ecuador	none	none	Angola Sierra Leone South Africa Zambia	none	21
1999	none	Colombia Paraguay Peru Uruguay	El Salvador Guatemala Guyana Honduras Puerto Rico	Guam India Kazakhstan Philippines Uzbekistan	DR Congo Egypt Kenya Lesotho Morocco Mozambique Namibia Eswatini Uganda	American Samoa Fiji Samoa	24
2003	none	none	Bahamas Belize Dominica Dominican Republic Montserrat Nicaragua Panama Saint Lucia Suriname U.S. Virgin Islands	Indonesia Myanmar Nepal Vietnam	Botswana Ivory Coast Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Guinea-Bissau Mali São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Tanzania Zimbabwe	Cook Islands Tahiti Tonga Vanuatu	20
2007	Austria Belarus Serbia and Montenegro	none	Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Barbados Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Grenada Netherlands Antilles Nicaragua Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Turks and Caicos Islands	Indonesia Maldives	Algeria Benin Central African Republic Congo Djibouti Kenya Libya Malawi Namibia Togo	New Caledonia Solomon Islands Tonga	27
2011	Armenia Azerbaijan Bosnia and Herzegovina Estonia Georgia Israel North Macedonia Malta Serbia Turkey	none	Anguilla Cuba	Bangladesh Iran Jordan Kyrgyzstan Palestine	Botswana Tunisia		18

National teams results in World Cup preliminary competition 1991-2007

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Norway	50	40	7	3	160	30	127
Germany	43	39	2	2	175	17	119
Denmark	50	35	9	6	170	34	114
Sweden	45	36	5	4	164	34	113
France	46	31	7	8	108	33	100
Nigeria	34	33	0	1	132	14	99
Italy	54	29	10	15	123	48	97
England	52	27	11	14	110	42	92
Brazil	30	29	0	1	195	13	87
Russia	38	25	5	8	92	41	80
Japan	35	23	3	9	145	26	72
China	29	22	3	4	124	12	69
United States	23	22	0	1	137	5	66
Canada	26	22	0	4	131	16	66
Australia	27	21	3	3	150	9	66
Iceland	38	19	7	12	80	42	64
Finland	42	18	8	16	64	57	62
Argentina	32	19	4	9	84	40	61
New Zealand	24	20	0	4	179	9	60
Trinidad and Tobago	33	19	3	11	114	68	60
Netherlands	38	18	6	14	80	44	60
North Korea	28	18	4	6	123	17	58
Ukraine	40	17	7	16	72	69	58
South Africa	31	18	3	10	87	53	57
Mexico	33	18	3	12	90	67	57
Spain	40	15	10	15	101	52	55
Ghana	27	18	0	9	62	30	54
Haiti	31	17	1	13	58	62	52
Costa Rica	28	15	0	13	52	53	45
Switzerland	46	13	4	29	54	105	43
Cameroon	27	11	6	10	45	46	39
Czech Republic	28	9	5	14	50	60	32
Thailand	19	10	1	8	39	68	31
Chinese Taipei	24	9	4	11	44	51	31
Portugal	34	10	1	23	42	93	31
Guatemala	19	10	0	9	43	42	30
Colombia	20	9	3	8	46	51	30
Papua New Guinea	24	10	0	14	42	121	30
Ecuador	20	8	5	7	38	53	29
Hungary	30	7	8	15	29	74	29
Jamaica	22	9	1	12	55	54	28
Scotland	22	8	3	11	31	47	27
Mali	19	7	5	7	26	33	26
South Korea	21	8	2	11	53	46	26
Poland	26	8	2	16	36	64	26
Paraguay	17	8	1	8	30	36	25
Vietnam	14	8	0	6	35	31	24
DR Congo	17	7	3	7	28	30	24
Republic of Ireland	20	7	3	10	21	28	24
Chile	23	7	3	13	40	58	24
Uzbekistan	15	7	1	7	33	49	22
Peru	19	6	3	10	21	44	21
Belarus	16	6	2	8	23	37	20
Belgium	34	6	2	26	47	82	20
Dominican Republic	10	6	1	3	22	16	19
Romania	14	5	4	5	30	18	19
Myanmar	16	6	1	9	27	35	19
Equatorial Guinea	13	5	2	6	27	28	17
Senegal	11	5	1	5	20	14	16
Saint Lucia	11	5	1	5	27	32	16
Angola	13	4	4	5	19	19	16
Hong Kong	16	5	1	10	13	59	16
Panama	10	5	0	5	18	30	15
Guyana	12	5	0	7	21	40	15
Suriname	13	5	0	8	23	24	15
Yugoslavia (1995-2003) Serbia and Montenegro (2007) Serbia (2011–)	18	4	3	11	13	46	15
Austria	16	4	2	10	21	31	14
Jordan	6	4	1	1	24	6	13
India	9	4	0	5	33	20	12
Slovakia	13	4	0	9	19	29	12
Tanzania	13	3	3	7	23	35	12
Croatia	16	3	3	10	12	45	12
Bulgaria	18	3	3	12	15	54	12
Algeria	10	3	2	5	11	19	11
Northern Ireland	14	3	2	9	9	37	11
Uruguay	17	3	2	12	16	54	11
Barbados	7	3	1	3	11	12	10
Ivory Coast	8	2	4	2	13	13	10
Estonia	10	3	1	6	7	44	10
Netherlands Antilles	4	3	0	1	6	9	9
Mozambique	5	3	0	2	19	14	9
Cuba	5	3	0	2	12	10	9
Czechoslovakia	6	3	0	3	8	10	9
U.S. Virgin Islands	9	3	0	6	14	26	9
Cook Islands	9	3	0	6	6	37	9
Puerto Rico	10	3	0	7	24	55	9
Wales	14	3	0	11	28	52	9
Greece	20	3	0	17	14	63	9
Zimbabwe	5	2	2	1	12	4	8
Bolivia	18	2	2	14	23	91	8
Gabon	6	2	1	3	10	9	7
Turkey	8	2	1	5	10	23	7
Morocco	9	1	4	4	5	16	7
Antigua and Barbuda	10	2	1	7	10	36	7
Guinea	10	2	1	7	7	44	7
El Salvador	11	2	1	8	17	33	7
Venezuela	16	2	1	13	11	67	7
Congo	3	2	0	1	13	4	6
Togo	4	2	0	2	10	12	6
Nicaragua	4	2	0	2	4	13	6
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5	2	0	3	8	6	6
Bermuda	5	2	0	3	9	16	6
Saint Kitts and Nevis	5	2	0	3	7	23	6
Benin	6	1	3	2	4	6	6
Kyrgyzstan	6	2	0	4	8	22	6
Ethiopia	7	1	3	3	8	14	6
Israel	8	2	0	6	4	24	6
Slovenia	13	2	0	11	7	71	6
Namibia	4	1	1	2	4	16	4
Malaysia	4	1	1	2	1	24	4
Solomon Islands	5	1	1	3	5	12	4
Tonga	6	1	1	4	3	15	4
Martinique	6	1	1	4	11	37	4
Egypt	7	1	1	5	4	19	4
Fiji	7	1	1	5	7	43	4
Honduras	8	1	1	6	11	26	4
Azerbaijan	8	1	1	6	2	60	4
Samoa	9	1	1	7	4	79	4
Anguilla	2	1	0	1	2	3	3
Kenya	3	1	0	2	8	9	3
Tahiti	3	1	0	2	5	9	3
Palestine	4	1	0	3	5	14	3
Philippines	9	1	0	8	6	68	3
Uganda	4	0	2	2	3	6	2
Eritrea	4	0	2	2	8	16	2
Tunisia	2	0	1	1	1	2	1
Malawi	2	0	1	1	0	1	1
Indonesia	2	0	1	1	0	4	1
Sierra Leone	4	0	1	3	3	15	1
Lithuania	4	0	1	3	1	24	1
Grenada	5	0	1	4	2	23	1
Dominica	7	0	1	6	2	40	1
Georgia	8	0	1	7	3	42	1
Singapore	11	0	1	10	0	52	1
Kazakhstan	10	0	0	10	4	49	0
Guam	9	0	0	9	2	68	0
Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	0	0	8	0	30	0
Armenia	8	0	0	8	1	42	0
Malta	8	0	0	8	1	51	0
North Macedonia	8	0	0	8	3	68	0
Zambia	6	0	0	6	8	25	0
Maldives	6	0	0	6	0	30	0
Turks and Caicos Islands	5	0	0	5	1	19	0
Latvia	4	0	0	4	1	18	0
São Tomé and Príncipe	4	0	0	4	0	17	0
Bahamas	3	0	0	3	1	19	0
Vanuatu	3	0	0	3	1	21	0
Cayman Islands	2	0	0	2	1	3	0
Aruba	2	0	0	2	1	5	0
Lesotho	2	0	0	2	2	7	0
Botswana	2	0	0	2	2	7	0
British Virgin Islands	2	0	0	2	1	8	0
Iran	2	0	0	2	2	12	0
Belize	2	0	0	2	1	14	0
Eswatini	2	0	0	2	0	15	0
American Samoa	2	0	0	2	0	30	0
Central African Republic	1	0	0	1	0	4	0
Djibouti	1	0	0	1	0	8	0
Montserrat	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Guinea-Bissau	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nepal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Libya	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
New Caledonia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bangladesh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Intercontinental play-offs

Intercontinental play-offs are played as two home-and-away matches. The team that scores a greater aggregate number of goals qualifies. Away goals rule applies. If these rules fail to determine the winner, extra time and penalty shootouts are used.

See also

• National team appearances in the FIFA Women's World Cup
• FIFA World Cup qualification