Buried among the news that Jayne Ludlow was leaving the Wales NT after 6 years was the announcement that the WWC23 qualifiers will start in September in Europe.
The pots if UEFA use this system: Pot 1: Netherlands, Germany, England, France, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Italy, Denmark Pot 2: Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, Scotland, Russia, Finland, Portugal, Wales Pot 3: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland Pot 4: Slovakia, Hungary, Belarus, Croatia, Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Israel, Azerbaijan Pot 5: Turkey, Malta, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Latvia Pot 6:Montenegro, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Andorra
I don't know how reliable this info is, but it looks like North Korea have pulled ut of the WWC 2023 qualifications: North Korea have informed AFC that they will withdraw from the World Cup qualification due to COVID-19 pandemic.— Korea Football News (@KORFootballNews) May 3, 2021
It's about their men's team which already played some games in those qualifiers. Women teams in AFC qualify to WWC thru AFC Women's Cup (which is to be held in India in 2022 ) AFC Women's Cup 2022 Qulifications start in September (draw is this month) It's safe to say that NK will probably withdraw their women NT from international competition as well..although last year their men team was playing Tokyo Olympic qualifiers while the women team has been withdrawn (imo they would have not pass anti-doping tests).
Well, as an Indian-American, I personally hope AFC waits until the last minute to change the host so they have no choice but to let India keep its spot in the tournament.
Is india still participating in the qualifiers? No need to look for a new host when the tournament is about 18 months away. Now, for them hosting the U-17 World Cup, that could warrant looking for a new host within the next few months.
Apparently the tournament is actually scheduled for January/February 2022 (coldest months in India probably), but I guess they could probably have it in October/November 2022 instead and it would probably be okay. Edit: Average high in Delhi in October is a sizzling 32.8 C/91 F. That must be why the January/February dates.
With what’s going on in India right now, it won’t happen and they should choose a different host nation because they will not recover for a long time. It’s already more than a year now.
Tyson Scott @Tys0nScott 2h FIFAWWC Australia & New Zealand 2023 dates are locked in: 20 July - 20 August 2023 The new play-off tournament to decide the final three slots for the #FIFAWWC will be played down under between February 17 - 23 2023!
Steven Goff @SoccerInsider 1h Paramount+ continues to secure soccer rights: Asian World Cup qualifying for men and women, plus AFC club tournaments, industry source says. Effective this fall. Expecting further details this week.
My 11 teams that I see qualifying for the women out of Europe (UEFA) 1- England 2- France 3- Germany 4- Sweden 5- Portugal 6- Netherlands 7- Italy 8- Croatia 9- Scotland 10- Poland 11- Spain
Unfortunately no but then who do you think qualifies out of the UEFA Women's qualifiers to get to Australia/New Zealand
But as far as the Asian teams for 2023 for the women (5 teams plus hosts) Australia (co host) Japan China Iran South Korea India
Well, as Lohmann pointed out, you kinda need to have a qualifier out of UEFA's group E by necessity, because the group winners qualify directly.... You can't just opt to think they're not strong enough to cut it. Also, there's no way that all six of Scotland, Portugal, Poland, Croatia, Iran, and India qualify; I'd be surprised if even two of the UEFA teams in that list qualify. Croatia, Iran, and India are all outside the top 50 in confederations that have plenty of teams above them.
Well it's always a gamble trying to predict stuff, especially at the edges, but I think seeing a team outside the top 50 qualify from anywhere other than CAF is slim to none. Group stages are pretty predictable, while knockouts are less so, so here's what I'm willing to say at the moment: UEFA Top seven are clear (NED/GER/ENG/FRA/SWE/ESP/NOR) ITA/SUI and DEN/RUS are the only question marks on who wins their group, but in both cases the pot 1 team is favored. It ITA or DEN fall to the playoffs, I think they'd get one of the remaining two direct spots. Aside from that, I'm not predicting who wins the playoffs, but you won't get anyone below POL even making the playoffs in the first place AFC Top three are clear (AUS/CHN/JPN) We don't even now how AFC's preliminary qualification will be set up yet, which makes thing interesting considering KOR eliminated DPK last time, but assuming that doesn't happen this time around, the top six (group winners+runners-up) would be the aforementioned five teams and either VIE or THA. If the group stage draw is really weird, then maybe one of the next four teams (TPE, UZB, MYA, JOR) might sneak into the sixth direct spot. OFC NZL is already the lone direct qualifier C'BOL BRA is clear. I would wager ARG and COL getting the other two direct spots. CHI will challenge those two though, and I'll bet that whichever of those three teams drops to the international playoffs will still qualify. This is the only playoff prediction I'm moderately confident in. C'CAF Top three are clear (USA/CAN/MEX) I'm including MEX because I think that the growth seen in their league over the past four years means that last cycle's surprise won't happen again. For that fourth direct spot, It'll be CRC or JAM, depending on the group stage draw. CAF Africa is always information-sparse, making it hard to predict, especially since we'll be getting four direct qualifiers from three groups. The safe bet is NGA, RSA, CMR, GHA, but with how fluid Africa is, I could see up to 10 other teams providing a surprise. TL;DR There are 26 or so teams I think are clear. For the remaining 6 spots, I'm can't say who will make it, but I do know it'll be from a limited pool, i.e. I can say who won't: anyone outside the top 50 unless they're from Africa, and anyone from Europe outside the top 35.