Page 3 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.16 2020-21

The draw for the European section of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying
groups has been made.
England, semi finalists in the last two tournaments, will face Euro 2022 qualifers
Northern Ireland as well as Austria, who reached the Euro 2017 semi finals. North
Macedonia, Latvia and Luxembourg are the other countries in the group. It is the third
time in a row that England will play British opponents in World Cup qualifiers, having
been drawn in the same group as Wales in each of the last two occasions.
Scotland, who will be attempting to qualify for the Finals for the second time in a
row, will be up against Spain, as well as Ukraine, Hungary and the Faroe Islands, whilst
Wales have been drawn in the same group as France, Slovenia, Greece, Kazakhstan and
Estonia. Wales’ campaign will be their first under newly appointed manager Gemma
Grainger, who will come up against one of her predecessors in Jarmo Matikainen, who is
now in charge of Estonia.
The fixtures for each group will be announced in due course. The groups are set
to start this coming September and will continue through for a twelve-month period,
finishing in September 2022.
The nine group winners qualify directly for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
in Australia and New Zealand. The nine group runners-up will then contest play-off
matches in October 2022 to determine the two remaining direct spots, as well as the spot
for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup play-off tournament.
Draw in full:
GROUP A GROUP B GROUP C
SWEDEN SPAIN NETHERLANDS
FINLAND SCOTLAND ICELAND
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UKRAINE CZECH REPUBLIC
SLOVAKIA HUNGARY BELARUS
GEORGIA FAROE ISLANDS CYPRUS
GROUP D GROUP E GROUP F
ENGLAND DENMARK NORWAY
AUSTRIA RUSSIA BELGIUM
NORTHERN IRELAND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA POLAND
NORTH MACEDONIA AZERBAIJAN ALBANIA
LATVIA MALTA KOSOVO
LUXEMBOURG MONTENEGRO ARMENIA
GROUP G GROUP H GROUP I
ITALY GERMANY FRANCE
SWITZERLAND PORTUGAL WALES
ROMANIA SERBIA SLOVENIA
CROATIA ISRAEL GREECE
MOLDOVA TURKEY KAZAKHSTAN
LITHUANIA BULGARIA ESTONIA
Issue no. 16 - 6 May 2021 news@womenssoccerscene.co.uk