FIFA Women's World Cup Qualifying

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FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying is the qualifying stage for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. They are held in FIFA’s six continental zones: Asia, Africa, Europe, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, and Oceania. This process determines the participants for the Women’s World Cup finals, which has increased over the years.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying for the China 1991 saw 49 teams battle it out for a ticket to the finals. This number was doubled to 98 by the 2003 edition. The qualifying stage of the 2017 Women’s World Cup, also held in China, was the first time over 100 nations competed for a berth, with the exact number being 129.

The reason for this is obvious: the number of finalists has increased. Only 12 qualification spots were available for the inaugural competition before being increased to 16 by 1999. It remained this way until it was increased to 24 ahead of Canada 2015, and expanded to 32 qualifying slots ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The very-first FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying stage saw 48 teams from all six confederations play a total of 111 matches, scoring 445 goals and averaging roughly 4 goals per game. Despite being the host nation, China PR went through the qualification stage and was one of 12 teams to progress to the finals alongside Japan, Chinese Taipei, Nigeria, USA, Brazil, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden. Sweden 1995 was the first time a nation qualified automatically due to hosting rights.