2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The European qualifying for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was a women's football tournament organized by UEFA.^[1] A record 46 entrants were competing for eight spots.^[2] For the first time Albania and Montenegro entered a senior competitive tournament. The first matches were held on 4 April 2013.

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Tournament details
Dates	4 April 2013 – 14 October 2014
Teams	46 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	228
Goals scored	965 (4.23 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Vivianne Miedema (16 goals)
← 2011 2019 →

Preliminary round

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA preliminary round

The eight lowest teams entered the tournament in the preliminary round were drawn into two groups of four. The two best placed teams in each group advanced to the next round where they competed among the other thirty-eight teams entered. The preliminary round was drawn on 18 December 2012.^[3] Malta and Lithuania as hosts were the only seeded teams. Matches were played from 4 to 9 April 2013.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Malta (H)	3	2	1	0	9	1	+8	7	Group stage		—	—	—	6–0
2	Albania	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7			1–1	—	2–0	—
3	Latvia	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1			0–2	—	—	—
4	Luxembourg	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7	1			—	1–2	0–0	—

Source: UEFA
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Faroe Islands	3	2	1	0	6	4	+2	7	Group stage		—	3–3	2–1	—
2	Montenegro	3	1	2	0	6	4	+2	5			—	—	—	1–1
3	Georgia	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3			—	0–2	—	4–3
4	Lithuania (H)	3	0	1	2	4	6	−2	1			0–1	—	—	—

Source: UEFA
(H) Hosts

Group stage

The group stage draw was made on 16 April 2013. Teams played each other twice, once at home and once away. Matches were played from 20 September 2013 to 17 September 2014. All seven group winners advanced directly to the final tournament, while the four runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth, and fifth in their groups advanced to play-off matches on 25/26 and 29/30 October and 22/23 and 26/27 November 2014 for the remaining berth.^[4][5]

Seeding

Seeding was based on results in three tournaments, the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying, 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying, each with their qualification results included.

Pot A	Pot B	Pot C	Pot D	Pot E	Pot F
Germany   Sweden   France   England   Norway   Italy   Denmark	Iceland   Finland   Russia   Netherlands   Spain   Scotland   Ukraine	Switzerland   Poland   Czech Republic   Austria   Belgium   Republic of Ireland   Belarus	Hungary   Serbia   Romania   Portugal   Wales   Slovakia   Northern Ireland	Slovenia   Greece   Turkey   Bosnia and Herzegovina   Bulgaria   Israel   Estonia	Kazakhstan   Croatia   Macedonia   Malta   Faroe Islands   Albania   Montenegro

We report in bold the teams which actually qualified to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:^[1]

1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
2. Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played between the teams in question;
5. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
9. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;

Group 1

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	10	0	0	62	4	+58	30	Women's World Cup		—	9–0	2–0	4–0	4–0	9–1
2	Russia	10	7	1	2	19	18	+1	22			1–4	—	0–0	1–0	4–1	3–1
3	Republic of Ireland	10	5	2	3	13	9	+4	17			2–3	1–3	—	1–0	2–0	2–0
4	Croatia	10	2	2	6	7	20	−13	8			0–8	1–3	1–1	—	1–0	0–1
5	Slovenia	10	2	0	8	7	34	−27	6			0–13	1–2	0–3	0–3	—	2–1
6	Slovakia	10	1	1	8	6	29	−23	4			0–6	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group 2

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	9	1	0	42	2	+40	28	Women's World Cup		—	2–0	3–2	1–0	6–0	12–0
2	Italy	10	8	1	1	48	5	+43	25	Play-offs		0–0	—	6–1	1–0	4–0	15–0
3	Czech Republic	10	4	2	4	21	18	+3	14			0–1	0–4	—	0–0	6–0	5–2
4	Romania	10	3	2	5	18	11	+7	11			0–2	1–2	0–0	—	0–3^[a]	6–1
5	Estonia	10	2	1	7	8	33	−25	7			0–5	1–5	1–4	0–2	—	1–1
6	Macedonia	10	0	1	9	6	74	−68	1			0–10	0–11	1–3	1–9	0–2	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Estonia were awarded a 3–0 win. The match originally ended 2–0 to Romania.

Group 3

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	10	9	1	0	53	1	+52	28	Women's World Cup		—	3–0	1–1	9–0	9–0	11–0
2	Iceland	10	6	1	3	29	9	+20	19			0–2	—	0–1	3–0	9–1	5–0
3	Denmark	10	5	3	2	25	6	+19	18			0–1	1–1	—	0–1	3–1	8–0
4	Israel	10	4	0	6	9	27	−18	12			0–5	0–1	0–5	—	3–1	2–0
5	Serbia	10	3	1	6	16	34	−18	10			0–7	1–2	1–1	3–0	—	5–0
6	Malta	10	0	0	10	0	55	−55	0			0–5	0–8	0–5	0–3^[a]	0–3	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Israel were awarded a 3–0 win. The match originally ended 2–0 to Israel.

Group 4

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	10	10	0	0	32	1	+31	30	Women's World Cup		—	2–0	2–0	3–0	3–0	5–0
2	Scotland	10	8	0	2	37	8	+29	24	Play-offs		1–3	—	2–0	7–0	2–0	9–0
3	Poland	10	5	1	4	20	14	+6	16			0–4	0–4	—	3–1	4–0	6–0
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	2	3	5	7	19	−12	9			0–1	1–3	1–1	—	1–0	2–0
5	Northern Ireland	10	1	2	7	3	19	−16	5			0–4	0–2	0–3	0–0	—	3–0
6	Faroe Islands	10	0	2	8	3	41	−38	2			0–5	2–7	0–3	1–1	0–0	—

Source: UEFA

Group 5

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	10	9	0	1	41	5	+36	27	Women's World Cup		—	0–2	4–1	2–0	6–0	7–0
2	Netherlands	10	8	1	1	43	6	+37	25	Play-offs		1–2	—	1–1	3–2	7–0	10–1
3	Belgium	10	6	1	3	34	11	+23	19			1–2	0–2	—	4–1	11–0	2–0
4	Portugal	10	4	0	6	19	21	−2	12			0–2	0–7	0–1	—	1–0	7–1
5	Greece	10	1	0	9	6	49	−43	3^[a]			0–5	0–6	1–7	1–5	—	4–0
6	Albania	10	1	0	9	3	54	−51	3^[a]			0–11	0–4	0–6	0–3	1–0	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Greece scored more head-to-head goals than Albania

Group 6

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	10	0	0	52	1	+51	30	Women's World Cup		—	4–0	2–0	8–0	6–0	9–0
2	Ukraine	10	7	1	2	34	9	+25	22	Play-offs		1–2	—	1–0	8–0	8–0	7–0
3	Wales	10	6	1	3	18	9	+9	19			0–4	1–1	—	1–0	1–0	4–0
4	Turkey	10	4	0	6	12	31	−19	12			0–4	0–1	1–5	—	3–0	3–1
5	Belarus	10	2	0	8	12	31	−19	6			0–3	1–3	0–3	1–2	—	3–1
6	Montenegro	10	0	0	10	6	53	−47	0			0–10	1–4	0–3	2–3	1–7	—

Source: UEFA

Group 7

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	10	10	0	0	54	3	+51	30	Women's World Cup		—	3–1	3–1	4–0	7–0	14–0
2	Austria	10	7	0	3	31	14	+17	21^[a]			1–3	—	3–1	4–3	5–1	4–0
3	Finland	10	7	0	3	27	9	+18	21^[a]			0–2	2–1	—	4–0	1–0	4–0
4	Hungary	10	4	0	6	20	25	−5	12			0–4	0–3	0–4	—	4–1	4–0
5	Kazakhstan	10	1	1	8	8	30	−22	4			0–4	0–3	0–2	1−2	—	4–1
6	Bulgaria	10	0	1	9	3	62	−59	1			0–10	1–6	0–8	0–7	1–1	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

1. Austria scored more head-to-head goals than Finland

Ranking of second-placed teams

Matches against the sixth-placed team in each group are not included in this ranking. As a result, eight matches played by each team counted for the purposes of the second-placed table.

The ranking of the runners-up is determined by the following parameters in this order:^[1]

1. Highest number of points
2. Goal difference
3. Highest number of goals scored
4. Highest number of away goals scored
5. Position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system;

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	5	Netherlands	8	6	1	1	29	5	+24	19	Play-offs
2	2	Italy	8	6	1	1	22	5	+17	19
3	4	Scotland	8	6	0	2	21	6	+15	18
4	6	Ukraine	8	5	1	2	23	8	+15	16
5	1	Russia	8	5	1	2	14	17	−3	16
6	7	Austria	8	5	0	3	21	13	+8	15
7	3	Iceland	8	4	1	3	16	9	+7	13

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) National team coefficient.

Play-offs

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA play-offs

After conclusion of the group stage the four runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth and fifth in their groups played home and away matches, to determine the last place in the FIFA World Cup.

The draw was held on 23 September 2014 at 14:00 local time at Nyon, Switzerland.^[6]

In the play-off draw, teams are seeded according to their UEFA Women's National Team Coefficient Ranking.

Seeded	Unseeded
Italy   Netherlands	Scotland   Ukraine

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Scotland	1–4	Netherlands	1–2	0–2
Italy	4–3	Ukraine	2–1	2–2

Final

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Netherlands	3–2	Italy	1–1	2–1

References

1. "Regulations of the UEFA European Qualifying Competition for the 7th FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). UEFA.com.
2. "Women's World Cup preliminary contenders". UEFA. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
3. "Albania, Montenegro learn debut opposition". UEFA. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
4. . FIFA. 16 April 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
5. "Women's World Cup qualifying draw made". UEFA. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
6. "Italy face Ukraine, Scotland challenge Netherlands". UEFA.com. 23 September 2014.

External links

• Women's World Cup, UEFA.com