2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification explained

Tourney Name:2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
Num Teams:125
Confederations:6
Prevseason:2007
Nextseason:2015

Qualification for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup determines which 15 teams join Germany, the hosts of the 2011 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup. Europe has 5.5 qualifying berths (including the hosts), Asia 3 berths, North and Central America 2.5 berths, Africa 2 berths, South America 2 berths and Oceania 1 berth. The 16th spot was determined through a play-off match between the third-placed team in North/Central America and the winner of repechage play-offs in Europe.[1]

Qualified teams

TeamQualified asQualification dateAppearance
in finals
Consecutive
streak
Previous best performanceFIFA
Ranking
0030 October 20072
0127 May 201011
0227 May 20108
0330 May 20104
0415 September 20107
0515 September 20109
0616 September 20105
0710
088 October 201024
095 November 20106
105 November 201022
1111 November 201027
1211 November 201061
1319 November 20103
1421 November 201031
1527 November 20101

1.The rankings are shown as of 18 March 2011, the latest published.[2]

Africa

See main article: 2010 African Women's Football Championship. (24 teams competing for 2 berths)

As in the previous World Cup cycle the African Women's Championship will serve as the qualification tournament for the Women's World Cup. The tournament was scheduled to be held from 31 October to 14 November 2010 in South Africa.[3] The two finalists will advance to the Women's World Cup finals in Germany.

Eight teams will compete in the continental finals in South Africa, with qualification consisting of two rounds of knock-out home and away ties. The preliminary round was held in March 2010, with winners advancing to the first round of qualification, which was held in May and June 2010.

The seven winners from this round, along with hosts South Africa, advanced to the continental finals. These finals will consist of two round-robin groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the two semi-finals, with each semi-final winner qualifying for the World Cup finals.

Final tournament

Knockout stage

Asia

See main article: 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup. (17 teams competing for 3 berths)

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup served as a qualifying tournament.

The five leading AFC nations, North Korea (the defending AFC women's champions), South Korea, Japan, China and Australia were automatic qualifiers for the finals (held from 19–30 May 2010). They were joined by the winners of each of three qualification groups held in July 2009. A preliminary round of qualification held in April and May 2009 began the qualifiers for the 2011 finals.

The final tournament was held in Chengdu, China.[4] The two finalists – Australia and North Korea – and the winner of the third place play-off – Japan – qualified for the Women's World Cup finals. For the first time in the history of FIFA Women's World Cup, China failed to qualify for the finals.

Final qualification

Knockout stage

Europe

See main article: 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA). (41 teams competing for 4 or 5 berths, host nation Germany also qualifies)

Forty-one teams from Europe were drawn into eight groups on 17 March 2009.[5] These groups were played between August 2009 and August 2010. The group winners advanced to four home-and-away play-offs (held in September 2010), with the winners advancing to the World Cup finals. The four losing teams competed in repechage play-offs the following month to determine a team to play against the third-placed CONCACAF team for the 16th place in the finals.[6]

Unlike previous qualification tournaments, all UEFA member nations were eligible to qualify. In the past, only those nations in the top tier of European nations played in qualification groups.

Direct qualification play-offs

|}

Repechage play-offs

Italy advanced to the UEFA-CONCACAF playoff.

North America, Central America and Caribbean

See main article: 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. (26 teams competing for 2 or 3 berths)

As with the last World Cup, the CONCACAF Women's Championship served as the region's qualification tournament. The United States, Canada and Mexico received byes to the tournament, where they were joined by three teams from the Caribbean zone and two from Central America. Both finalists qualified automatically to the 2011 Women's World Cup. The third placed team met the fifth placed team from UEFA for an additional World Cup berth. The tournament was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 28 October to 8 November 2010.[7]

Women's Gold Cup

Knockout stage

Oceania

See main article: 2010 OFC Women's Championship. (8 teams competing for 1 berth)

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the 2010 OFC Women's Championship served as a qualifying tournament. The tournament was held in Auckland, New Zealand, from 29 September to 8 October 2010.[8]

Teams played in two groups of four, followed by semi-finals and a final and third-place play-off. The winners, New Zealand, qualified for the Women's World Cup finals.

Final qualification

Knockout stage

South America

See main article: 2010 Sudamericano Femenino. (10 teams competing for 2 berths)

As with previous World Cup qualifications, the Sudamericano Femenino was used to determine the qualification to the World Cup finals. Qualification was held between 4 and 21 November in Ecuador.[9]

Final positions

Second stage
width=200Teamwidth=20Pldwidth=20Pts
39
34
32
31

UEFA–CONCACAF play-off

See main article: 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA–CONCACAF play-off).

The winner of the third-place play-off at the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup will play-off against the winner of the repechage play-offs from the UEFA qualification tournament.

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20081120191938/http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/organisation/faqs/index.html Frequently Asked Questions
  2. Web site: The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking . . FIFA.com . Zürich, Switzerland . 18 March 2011 . 21 June 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110615083629/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender%3Df/fullranking.html . 15 June 2011 . dead .
  3. http://www.safa.net/index.php?page=articles&id=136 Ekurhuleni Municipality set to host cream of African women's football talent
  4. http://www.the-afc.com/en/inside-afc/676-afc-news/24774-afc-womens-committee-meeting AFC Women's Committee meeting
  5. http://en.archive.uefa.com/competitions/wowc/news/kind=1/newsid=807792.html EURO rivals to meet in World Cup qualifying
  6. http://en.archive.uefa.com/competitions/wowc/news/kind=1/newsid=802382.html Women's World Cup hopefuls await draw
  7. http://www.concacaf.com/page/WGC/NewsDetail/0,,12813~2120648,00.html Women's World Cup Qualifying set for Cancun
  8. http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticle/tabid/125/Article/bd194b86-66d6-41a7-b33f-3561ecde3fab/Default.aspx Women's Nations Cup teams learn fate
  9. http://www.conmebol.com/conmebol/womenFootballNews.html?viewpage=%27full%27 Sudamericano Femenino Ecuador 2010: nueva fecha de disputa