England's FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 draw
England have been drawn against Denmark and China at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand but they will have to wait until February to find out their third opponent.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 draw took place at the Aotea Centre in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday morning.
But England will have to wait until the FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-Off tournaments in February to find out who they will face in their opening match on Saturday 22 July at the Brisbane Stadium.
Group B Play-Off winners was the fourth ball pulled out for England’s Group D and that mini tournament will see Senegal and Haiti face each other on Saturday 18 February, before the winner then faces Chile on Wednesday 22 February to decide who will reach the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
England do know the dates and opposition for their other two Group D matches though, with games against Denmark on Friday 28 July at Sydney Football Stadium and China on Tuesday 1 August at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide.
Sarina Wiegman’s England side secured their spot at next summer’s tournament with an impeccable qualifying campaign, which saw them win ten games out of ten, scoring 80 goals and not conceding in the process.
The Lionesses’ superb form since Wiegman took charge in September 2021, which culminated in England winning their first major women’s tournament at this summer’s EUROs, means they are currently ranked fourth in the world, guaranteeing them a spot in Pot 1 for the draw.
There will be 32 nations competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with 29 already qualified and three more to be decided at the ten-team Play-Off tournaments.
The teams were split into four pots of eight teams for the draw based on the latest World Rankings, with hosts Australia and New Zealand joined by the six top-ranked teams in Pot 1.
As well as the four team pots, there were eight pots representing groups A to H. In each group pot, there were four balls with the positions one to four, to determine where the team selected will be allocated within each group.
The boss has arrived 👋 pic.twitter.com/2D5QjIyxGT
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) October 22, 2022
With New Zealand and Australia guaranteed first position in Groups A and B respectively, they were drawn first but England fans did not have to wait long to find out their Group, as they were placed in D.
Once Pot 1 was completed, Norway were the first team drawn from Pot 2, confirming the first match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 would be New Zealand versus Norway on Thursday 20 July.
China were the third team selected from Pot 2 and were placed in Group D alongside England and in Pot 3, it was Denmark added.
However, with Group B play-off winner selected from Pot 4 for Group D, it means the Lionesses will have to wait until February to find out if it will be Chile, Senegal or Haiti.
If England qualify from Group D, you can plot their path through the knock-out stages here, with the end goal of hopefully lifting a first FIFA Women’s World Cup in the Final on Sunday 20 August at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
You can find out more about tickets for the FIFA Women’s World Cup from FIFA’s website and we will have more information on EnglandFootball.com in due course.
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Group A
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Switzerland
Group B
Australia
Republic of Ireland
Nigeria
Canada
Group C
Spain
Costa Rica
Zambia
Japan
Group D
England
Group B play-off winner
Denmark
China
Group E
USA
Vietnam
Netherlands
Group A play-off winner
Group F
France
Jamaica
Brazil
Group C play-off winner
Group G
Sweden
South Africa
Italy
Argentina
Group H
Germany
Morocco
Colombia
Korea Republic
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