Who Has Qualified for the 2023 Women’s World Cup? Full List of Teams, Playoff Updates

The field for the largest Women’s World Cup ever is filling up, with 32 nations set to vie for glory in New Zealand and Australia next summer.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be the first 32-team event of its kind, and qualifying for a trip to Australia and New Zealand next summer has been unique all over the world. In only one region, Europe, is there a dedicated qualifying tournament solely for the competition, where 11 nations will ultimately and directly punch their tickets.

In Asia and Africa, their regional cup competitions—Asian Cup and Cup of Nations—doubled as qualifying, with finishers of a certain tier also booking their World Cup trips. In Concacaf and South America, the new W Championship and Copa América Femenina, respectively, doubled as World Cup and Olympic qualifying, while in Oceania, qualifying beyond co-host New Zealand was limited to one tournament, the OFC Women’s Nations Cup, whose winner was only guaranteed a place in a new 10-team intercontinental playoff.

That tournament, used as a test event for New Zealand in February 2023, will offer a last chance for three more nations to fill out the biggest Women’s World Cup field ever and fully set the course for next summer. The draw for the ninth Women’s World Cup will be held Oct. 22, so, just like on the men’s side this year, the pots will contain placeholders for the three successful playoff teams, and all eight groups will officially be filled a few months later.

Here’s a closer look at the Women’s World Cup qualifying field and where the remaining places will come from—as 31 other nations try to prevent the U.S. women’s national team from completing a three-peat and winning for a record fifth time.

QUALIFIED TEAMS

Australia (Host nation; Eighth appearance)
New Zealand (Host nation; Sixth appearance)
Japan (AFC Asian Cup semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
Philippines (AFC Asian Cup semifinalist; First appearance)
South Korea (AFC Asian Cup runner-up; Fourth appearance)
China (AFC Asian Cup winner; Eighth appearance)
Vietnam (AFC Asian Cup playoff winner; First appearance)
Sweden (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group A winner; Ninth appearance)
Spain (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group B winner; Third appearance)
Denmark (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group E winner; Fifth appearance)
France (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group I winner; Fifth appearance)
United States (Concacaf W Championship winner; Ninth appearance)
Canada (Concacaf W Championship finalist; Eighth appearance)
Costa Rica (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Second appearance)
Jamaica (Concacaf W Championship semifinalist; Second appearance)
Zambia (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; First appearance)
Morocco (Africa Cup of Nations finalist; First appearance)
Nigeria (Africa Cup of Nations semifinalist; Ninth appearance)
South Africa (Africa Cup of Nations winner; Second appearance)
Colombia (Copa América Femenina finalist; Third appearance)
Brazil (Copa América Femenina finalist; Ninth appearance)
Argentina (Copa América Femenina third-place finisher; Fourth appearance)
England (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group D winner; Sixth appearance)
Norway (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group F winner; Ninth appearance)
Italy (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group G winner; Fourth appearance)
Germany (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group H winner; Ninth appearance)
Netherlands (UEFA World Cup qualifying Group C winner; Third appearance)
Republic of Ireland (UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff winner; First appearance)
Switzerland (UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff winner; Second appearance)

STILL LEFT TO QUALIFY

INTERCONTINENTAL PLAYOFF

Ten teams will compete for three places in a first-of-its-kind World Cup qualifying tournament this February in New Zealand.

Two teams apiece from Asia (Chinese Taipei, Thailand), Africa (Cameroon, Senegal), Concacaf (Panama, Haiti) and South America (Chile, Paraguay), and one apiece from Oceania (Papua New Guinea) and UEFA make up the field, which is split into two groups of three and one group of four, with the winners of each group advancing to the World Cup.

In one of the brackets, Portugal will play the winner of Cameroon and Thailand for a place in the World Cup. In another, Chile will play the winner of Senegal and Haiti, and in the other, the winner of Chinese Taipei-Paraguay will face the winner of Papua New Guinea-Panama.

Those final berths in the World Cup will be clinched on Feb. 22 and 23.

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Avi Creditor
AVI CREDITOR

Avi Creditor is a senior editor and has covered soccer for more than a decade. He’s also a scrappy left back.