The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Draw – how does it work?

08 December 2018– The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the eighth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (formerly known as the Women’s World Championship).

It will be contested by 24 teams between 7 June and 7 July 2019 in France, which will be hosting for the first time ever (and a third time a European nation will be hosting the tournament).

Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana will go into the hat as one of three representative from the African continent – the others are Nigeria and Cameroon.

The draw will be held this evening (Saturday, 8 December 2018) at La Seine Musicale in Paris, France.

It starts at 19h00 South African time.

A live stream will also be available on the FIFA’s official YouTube channel

Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has already arrived in the country for the draw, and is accompanied by Team Manager Lauren Duncan and the Media Officer, Matlhomola Morake.

Also among the delegation is the President of the South African Football Association (SAFA) Dr Danny Jordaan, who is a guest of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, as well as retired Banyana Banyana legend Portia Modise, who has been named an ambassador of the tournament by FIFA.

South Africa, Jamaica, Scotland and Chile will make their debut in the competition, while Italy and Argentina make a return as they last featured in the tournament 1999 and 2007 respectively.

Jamaica is the lowest-ranked team on 53rdposition.

Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden and the USA have qualified for their eight tournament – continuing their streak of appearing in every World Cup so far.

The USA are the defending champions, and are also the top-ranked nation in the tournament on position 1 – they have won the World Cup three times prior.

The hosts, who are the top seeds, are 3rdon the FIFA Women’s Rankings

HOW DOES THE DRAW WORK?

  • Teams will be drawn into six groups of four from four pots based on the FIFA Women’s World Rankings (which were released on Friday, December 7)
  • France, as host country, is automatically placed into position A1 in Pot 1, and no group is allowed to contain more than one team from each confederation
  • UEFA is the exception, however, with nine teams to be seeded – though each group must contain no more than two UEFA clubs
  • Following the six group stages, the top-two finishing teams will automatically progress to the knockout phase of the tournament alongside the four best third-placed teams
  • From then on, the round of 16 will then be played, following the semi-final, final and third-place play-off fixture.

 

THE QUALIFIED TEAMS AND THEIR RANKINGS

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
 France (3) (hosts)

United States(1)

Germany (2)

England (4)

Canada (5)

Australia (6)

  Netherlands (7)

Japan (8)

Sweden (9)

Brazil (10)

Spain (12)

Norway (13)

  South Korea(14)

China PR (15)

Italy (16)

New Zealand(19)

Scotland (20)

Thailand (29)

  Argentina (36)

Chile (38)

Nigeria (39)

Cameroon (46)

South Africa (48)

Jamaica (53)

 

AFC (5 teams):

  • Australia
  • China PR
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Thailand

 

CAF (3 teams):

  • Cameroon
  • Nigeria
  • South Africa

 

CONCACAF (3 teams):

  • Canada
  • Jamaica
  • United States

 

CONMEBOL (3 teams):

  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Chile

 

OFC (1 team):

  • New Zealand

 

UEFA (9 teams):

  • England
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Sweden

 

2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Venues

Nine venues have been selected to host the tournament.

  • Three of the stadiums were used at theUEFA Euro 2016: Parc Olympique in Lyon, Allianz Riviera in Nice, and Parc des Princes in Paris
  • Parc des Princes hosted matches in the1998 men’s World Cup, and stands on the former site of a stadium that hosted matches in the 1938 men’s World Cup
  • Another stadium that was used in 1998 is Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier
  • The other stadiums seat under 30,000 spectators
  • The opening match will be played at Pack des Princes in Paris
  • The semi-finals and final will be played atParc Olympique Lyonnais in the Lyon suburb of Décines, with 58,000 capacity
  • The nine host cities are: Grenoble, Le Havre, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Paris, Reims, Rennes and Valenciennes.

 

CITY STADIUM CAPACITY
1. Grenoble Stade des Alpes 20,070
2. Le Havre Stade Oceane 25,200
3. Lyon Parc Olympique Lyonnais 59,200
4. Montpellier Stade de la Mosson 32,900
5. Nice Allianz Riviera 35,625
6. Paris Parc des Princes 48,580
7. Reims Stade Auguste-Delaune 21,150
8. Rennes Roazhon Park 29,160
9. Valenciennes Stade du Hainaut 25,200