2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

Qualifying matches started in September 2021 and will end in February 2023. Matches have been played on dates within the FIFA International Match Calendar.[5]

Apart from the hosts Australia and New Zealand, 207 of 209 remaining FIFA member associations could qualify through their own confederation's qualifying process if they choose to enter. The exceptions were Chad and Pakistan, whose football associations were suspended by FIFA.[6] A third exception might have been Russia after initially receiving a four-year ban from all major sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 9 December 2019, after Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) was found non-compliant for handing over manipulated laboratory data to investigators.[7] However, the Russian women's team could still enter qualification. The decision was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),[8] which ruled in WADA's favour but reduced the ban to two years.[9] The CAS ruling also allowed the name "Russia" to be displayed on uniforms if the words "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team" have equal prominence.[10] Had Russia qualified for the tournament, its female players would have been able to use their country's name, flag or anthem at the Women's World Cup, unlike their male counterparts, as the ban was scheduled to expire on 16 December 2022.[10][11] But earlier on 28 February, FIFA and UEFA announced Russia's suspension from all competitions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[12] On 2 May, UEFA announced that Russia would no longer be allowed to participate in qualification, that their prior results were nullified, and that Group E would continue with five teams.[13]

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the AFC Women's Asian Cup served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for AFC members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:

• Qualifying stage: The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification competition was held between 17 and 30 September and between 18 and 24 October 2021. Teams competed for qualification to the final tournament, where they were joined by final tournament hosts India and the top three teams of the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup, Japan, Australia, and China, who qualified automatically.
• Final tournament: Twelve teams played in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup,[14] which was held from 20 January to 6 February 2022.[15] They were drawn into three groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group, along with the two-best third-placed teams, will advance to the knockout stage.[16]

North Korea withdrew on 29 July 2021 from the Women's Asian Cup qualifiers due to COVID-19 pandemic-related safety concerns,[17] followed by Turkmenistan on 6 August because of pandemic-related travel restrictions.[18] In a letter to the AFC published on 8 September, Iraq decided not to take part.[19] Afghanistan also withdrew from qualification later in September as the women's team's participation was uncertain due to the Taliban takeover of the country.[20][21]

During the Women's Asian Cup, host team India was unable to play their match of the group stage against Chinese Taipei due to having fewer than 13 players available, with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them were considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.[22]

The format of the play-off round depended on the performance of Australia, who qualified automatically for the World Cup as hosts.[23] Since Australia was eliminated in the quarter finals, the play-offs format was for the remaining three quarter-final losers to play a single round-robin play-off. The best team after three matches advanced to the World Cup, and the remaining two teams will enter the inter-confederation play-offs.

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Vietnam	2	6
2	Chinese Taipei	2	3
3	Thailand	2	0

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the Africa Women Cup of Nations served as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CAF members. The World Cup qualifying process was as follows:

• Qualifying stage: 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualification competition was held between 17 and 30 October 2021 and between 18 and 24 February 2022. Teams competed for qualification to the final tournament, where they were joined by final tournament hosts Morocco.
• Final tournament: Twelve teams will play the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations which will be held from 2–23 July 2022. They were drawn into three groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group, along with the two-best third-placed teams, will advance to the knockout stage.

Group stage

Group A	Group B	Group C
Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Morocco (H) 0 0 2  Burkina Faso 0 0 3  Senegal 0 0 4  Uganda 0 0 First match(es) will be played on 2 July 2022. Source: CAF (H) Host	Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Cameroon 0 0 2  Zambia 0 0 3  Tunisia 0 0 4  Togo 0 0 First match(es) will be played on 3 July 2022. Source: CAF	Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Nigeria 0 0 2  South Africa 0 0 3  Burundi 0 0 4  Botswana 0 0 First match(es) will be played on 4 July 2022. Source: CAF

Ranking of third-place teams

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Senegal	0	0
2	Tunisia	0	0
3	Burundi	0	0

As in the previous World Cup cycle, the CONCACAF W Championship serves as the World Cup qualifying tournament for CONCACAF members. The World Cup qualifying process is as follows:[24]

• Qualifying stage: The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship qualification competition was held in February and April 2022. Teams were drawn into six groups of five, and played single round-robin matches (two home and two away). If more than thirty CONCACAF member associations had entered, a play-in round would have been held prior to the qualifying group stage. The six group winners advanced to the final tournament to join the two highest-ranked CONCACAF teams, Canada and the United States, who qualified automatically.
• Final tournament: Eight teams will play in the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, which will be held in July 2022. They will be drawn into two groups of four teams and will play single round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group will advance to the knockout stage.

The Copa América Femenina will be held from 8 to 30 July 2022,[25] providing three direct qualifying places and two play-off places for the Women's World Cup.[4]

The 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup was originally scheduled for July–August but was shifted to January–February to accommodate changes to the FIFA Women's International Match Calendar.[26] The OFC announced on 4 March 2021 that it was pushed back to July 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]

As in the previous World Cup cycle, UEFA organises a tournament for its members designed only for Women's World Cup qualifying. The World Cup qualifying process is as follows:[28]

• Group stage: 51 teams are drawn into nine groups of five or six teams, where each group is played in a home-and-away round-robin format. Matches have been held on dates in the FIFA Women's International Match Calendar from September 2021 to September 2022. The nine group winners qualify directly for the final tournament, while the nine runners-up advance to the play-offs.
• Play-offs: The nine teams play two knockout rounds of single-leg matches, with the best three runners-up entering in the second round. Matches will be held on dates in the FIFA Women's International Match Calendar in October 2022. Among the three second round play-off winners, the two teams with the best combined records in the group stage (8 matches, excluding the ones against sixth-placed teams for those from groups with six teams) and second round play-offs (1 match) will qualify for the Women's World Cup, while the team with the worst combined record (group stage plus second play-off round) will enter the inter-continental play-offs.