UEFA have just disclosed the teams that will try to qualify for the World Cup that will take place in France in 2019. 46 teams will enter with 16 in the preliminary round and 30 through to the qualifying round. Preliminary round (draw 19 January) Turkey Israel Greece Kazakhstan Estonia Albania Faroe Islands Moldova Malta Montenegro Georgia Lithuania Latvia Luxembourg Andorra (World Cup debut) Kosovo (competitive debut) • The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four, with the section winners and the runner-up with the best record against the sides first and third in their section progressing to the qualifying group stage. • Four teams will be selected to host the mini-tournaments played on 6, 8 and 11 April. Other details, including seeding arrangements, will be confirmed ahead of the draw. Qualifying group stage (draw 25 April) Germany* England* Norway* Sweden* Spain* Switzerland* Italy* Netherlands* Iceland* Scotland* Denmark* Austria* Belgium* Russia* Finland Ukraine Wales Romania Poland Czech Republic Republic of Ireland Portugal* Serbia Hungary Bosnia and Herzegovina Belarus Slovakia Slovenia Northern Ireland Croatia (five teams tbc from preliminary round) *Competing at Euro 2017 along with France • The 35 teams will be drawn into seven groups of five, who will play home and away between September 2017 and September 2018. Other details, including seeding arrangements, will be confirmed ahead of the draw. • The seven group winners will qualify to join France in the finals. • The four runners-up with the best record against the teams first, third and fourth in their groups will progress to the play-offs, which will consist of two rounds of two-legged knockout ties in October and November 2018 to decide Europe's last qualifier. Road to France: calendar Preliminary round draw: 13:30CET, 19 January 2017, Nyon Preliminary round: 6–11 April 2017 Qualifying group stage draw: 25 April 2017, Nyon Qualifying group stage: 11 September 2017–4 September 2018 Play-off draw: tbc September 2018, Nyon Play-off semi-finals: 1–9 October 2018 Play-off final: 5–13 November 2018 Finals draw: late 2018, France Finals: summer 2019, France Continental allocations for final tournament Africa (CAF): 3 Asia (AFC): 5 Europe (UEFA): 8 plus hosts France North/Central America (CONCACAF): 3 plus 1 to play-off v CONMEBOL third place Oceania (OFC): 1 South America (CONMEBOL): 2 plus 1 to play-off v CONCACAF fourth place
hence why they do this. The 6 UEFA countries with active teams & not participating are: Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Armenia, Bulgaria & Gibraltar. San Marino & Liechtenstein do not have active women's teams.
also, the draw for the 2018 AFC Women's Cup will be held in January 21, 2017. The first round of qualifiers is expected to be held April 3 - 11, 2017.
Google translated from Tajikistan FA website : The Asian Football Confederation has approved Dushanbe venue qualifying tournament Asian Cup 2018 women's national teams.The draw for the qualifying round of the Asian Cup 2018 women's national teams will take place on January 21 at Amman. In addition to the women's national team of Tajikistan in the qualifying tournament will bring together teams of South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Jordan, Myanmar, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Bahrain, Iran, India, Palestine, North Korea, Guam, Iraq, Singapore, Syria and UAE.Women's national team of Jordan that the rights of the 2018 Asian Cup host is automatically advanced to the final of the competition, will perform in the qualifying tournament out of the competition.Four groups will be formed According to the results of the draw - three groups of 5 teams and one group of 6 teams. Qualifiers will be held from 3 to 12 April in Tajikistan, Palestine, North Korea and Vietnam.In the final of the Asian Cup 2018 winners will be released four qualifying groups. In addition to Jordan in the final of the Asian Cup 2018 came the three best teams in the last Asian Championship, which took place in 2014 in Vietnam. This prefabricated Japan, Australia and China. http://fft.tj/otborochnyj-turnir-kubka-azii-2018-sredi-zhenskih-sbornyh-projdet-v-dushanbe/
the 22 countries not participating are: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Macau, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Northern Mariana Islands. Countries without an active women's team: Mongolia, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Brunei. A real shame that some of these countries aren't participating. Especially the one's that just participated in the SAFF & ASEAN women's tournament.
The draw & schedule for the UEFA preliminary round was held on Thursday. GROUP 1 Kazakhstan Estonia Georgia(H) Latvia GROUP 2 Greece Albania(H) Malta Kosovo GROUP 3 Israel Moldova Lithuania(H) Andorra GROUP 4 Turkey Faroe Islands(H) Montenegro Luxembourg
Just today, the AFC Women's Cup qualifiers draw held. The winners of each group advance to the finals in Jordan. If Jordan wins their group, the runner-up qualifies. South Korea gets screwed over by being placed in the same group as North Korea. North Korea was unseeded due to being banned from the 2014 tournament. Australia, Japan & China have byes to the final tournament. GROUP A Jordan Philippines Bahrain Iraq United Arab Emirates Tajikistan(H) GROUP B South Korea North Korea(H) Uzbekistan Hong Kong India GROUP C Thailand Taiwan Lebanon Palestine(H) Guam GROUP D Vietnam(H) Myanmar Iran Syria Singapore
with South Korea & North Korea in the same group, one of them won't qualify for the final & thus one won't qualify for the WWC. Who knows who qualifies from Group A, but the three qualifiers should be North Korea, Thailand & Vietnam. Philippines is the highest ranked team in Group A. So the finalists might be: Jordan(hosts), Australia, Japan, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Thailand & Philippines(?). The AFC has 5 slots for the WWC, so we could see Thailand back in the WWC due to an unfortunate draw in the qualifiers.
And North Korea deserves to be the team to not qualify, lol. South Korea does not deserve having North Korea in their same group. So I'll certainly be pulling for my home-girl Ji-So Yun to beat up on those cheaters from North Korea. Why should South Korea be punished for what North Korea did a few years ago with their doping scandal? And why does North Korea get to be the host of their group here (over South Korea or anyone else)? Make North Korea start from rock-bottom again. Hopefully Philippines wins group A (Jordan also qualifies from group A), South Korea wins Group B, Thailand qualifies from Group C, and Vietnam will win group D. Australia, China, and Japan are already in the AFC Finals, and without one of the Koreas being there, all three of these teams will surely qualify for the 2019 WWC (go ahead and lock that up). Would like to see South Korea and Philippines get the other two bids (Thailand went to the World Cup last time). Philippines have better looking women than Vietnam. Does Heather Cooke still play for the Philippines national team? Wasn't she also a cast member on MTV's Real World? YEP, she sure was ........... http://www.filipinosabroad.com/fil-american-mtv-star-reinforces-philippine-malditas-football-xi/
She's got a great voice, and they need to bring her back again, so we can actually watch it next time. It's been FOREVER since seeing that crazy show. Go Philippines !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (2019 World Cup bound) Screw you Papua New Guinea, Philippines is where it's at.
Her and Carlos Valderrama go together like peanut butter and jelly. And she was born on Christmas Day ............. Happy birthday to Filipino-American international footballer and reality TV personality @iamheathercooke #HeatherCooke Have a great day pic.twitter.com/wx9Ea19yC1— Today (@Today965655791) December 25, 2016 She is the best looking player in all of AFC Qualifying. Peace out Philippines!! I'm heading back to Amurrica!! ✌😜😘— Heather Cooke (@iamheathercooke) August 6, 2016
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Unbalanced draw ! It should have been used the Fifa rankings . One of the best team of Asia ( Korea or DPR Korea ) won't be in France 2019. And instead will be Thailand or Vietnam
whoever advances from Group A will be the weakest team in the finals along with host Jordan. That 5th slot will likely be Vietnam or Thailand. The draw for the finals could be interested though. Jordan(hosts) will be in Group A & Japan(title holders) will be in Group B. Australia and China will be the next seeded teams. That leaves the possibility that North Korea is put into the same group as Japan and Australia/China. GROUP A Jordan(hosts) Australia Thailand Vietnam GROUP B Japan China North Korea Group A qualifier It's still a possibility if the final draw ends up like this that Thailand & Vietnam qualify(via 5th place play-off).
Unless Heather Cooke buries them with a game winning goal, and lifts Philippines to the 2019 WWC. And hopefully South Korea (and Ji-So Yun) beats North Korea.
Whoever had the bright idea of putting South Korea and North Korea in the same group needs to be tied up in front of a goal and used as PK target practice. And if it was random, they should've had some rule similar to what UEFA's done to prevent antagonistic countries from landing in the same group.
Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that Korea Republic was the one who got screwed over by being put into the same group as Korea DPR. You could argue that based on Olympic qualifying, it was the other way around. Korea DPR finished below Korea Republic in the standings. I won't be sad if Korea DPR misses a second consecutive WC, because that means that FIFA won't be able to draw them with the US again like they somehow managed to do the 4 times both teams participated.
Actually they both was, with a fair ranking they both would have been among the top seeds and wouldn't have to play the only team in any of the AFC qualifying groups that can beat them without a miracle.
Hal Kaiser discussed the bizarre AFC qualifying draw in depth on The Mixxed Zone podcast this week, worth listening to. North Korea, despite their past success at international level and their 10th spot in the FIFA rankings, was considered an "unranked" team because they were banned last World Cup. Hence getting drawn with South Korea, clearly the two strongest teams competing for a spot in the final AFC qualifying round. Only one can make it. Gives you a sense of what little regard the world governing bodies have for women's soccer. It's an afterthought for them.
There's no room for two Korea's, if you want it to be a true "World" Cup. There used to only be room for two CONCACAF & two CONMEBOL teams in most World Cups of the past. But yet two Korean teams would make it? That's half as many teams as the entire Western Hemisphere. The Koreans don't dominate the world in population or in anything really. Japan is far superior. China is more prominent, certainly in population, manufacturing, and variety of food. How often do you say, "Let's go out and get some Korean food" ??? Chinese and Japanese food, way more common. I'd give AFC one less team (Japan, Australia, China, one Korean team is good enough, unless Philippines qualify). I'd give UEFA one more team, since Europe has more nations now than it had back in the day. Finland would crush Thailand or Vietnam. But not the Philippines.
I suppose the teams will be seeded like this then: Pot 1: Germany, England, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Italy Pot 2: Netherlands, Iceland, Scotland, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Russia Pot 3: Finland, Ukraine, Wales, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland Pot 4: Portugal, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Slovakia, Slovenia Pot 5: Northern Ireland, Croatia + 5 teams from the pre -qualifiers. All 7 group winners qualify to the World Cup along with France. The four best second placed teams meet in play-offs for the last UEFA spot. That's 9 for Europe.