2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)

In the UEFA qualification for 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, 41 entrants were drawn into eight groups, from which the group winners advanced to a play-off round. The four winners of the play-off round advanced directly to join Germany (the hosts) in the finals tournament, while the four play-off losers played two further knock-out rounds to determine a nation to play-off with the third-placed CONCACAF nation for a finals place.

This scheme was a significant change from previous editions of qualification as all entrants had the ability to advance to the final tournament. In previous years only those nations belonging to the First Category of European women's football were able to qualify, with a system approximating promotion and relegation between qualification tournaments operating.

Qualifying round

The groups were drawn on 17 March 2009, with the matches held from 15 August 2009 to 25 August 2010. The eight group winners advanced to the play-off stages.

Seeding

Seeding was based on results in 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying. There were five seeding pots, each containing eight teams except for the fifth, Pot E, which had nine and provided two nations for Group 1.^[1]

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  France 10 10 0 0 50 0 +50 30  Iceland 10 8 0 2 33 3 +30 24  Northern Ireland 10 3 2 5 8 16 −8 11  Estonia 10 3 1 6 7 44 −37 10  Serbia 10 2 3 5 7 19 −12 9  Croatia 10 0 2 8 4 27 −23 2

Croatia  – 0–3 0–7 0–3 0–1 1–2 Estonia  1–1 – 0–6 0–5 2–1 1–0 France  3–0 12–0 – 2–0 6–0 7–0 Iceland  3–0 12–0 0–1 – 2–0 5–0 Northern Ireland  3–1 3–0 0–4 0–1 – 0–0 Serbia  1–1 4–0 0–2 0–2 0–0 –

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Norway 8 7 1 0 39 2 +37 22  Netherlands 8 5 2 1 30 7 +23 17  Belarus 8 4 1 3 17 14 +3 13  Slovakia 8 2 0 6 15 13 +2 6  Macedonia 8 0 0 8 3 68 −65 0

Belarus  – 6–0 0–4 0–5 2–0 Macedonia  1–6 – 0–7 0–7 1–6 Netherlands  1–1 13–1 – 2–2 2–0 Norway  3–0 14–0 3–0 – 1–0 Slovakia  0–2 9–0 0–1 0–4 –

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Denmark 8 6 2 0 45 0 +45 20  Scotland 8 6 1 1 24 5 +19 19  Greece 8 3 0 5 11 20 −9 9  Bulgaria 8 2 2 4 9 25 −16 8  Georgia 8 0 1 7 3 42 −39 1

Bulgaria  – 0–0 5–0 0–1 0–5 Denmark  9–0 – 15–0 7–0 0–0 Georgia  1–1 0–7 – 0–3 1–3 Greece  1–2 0–6 5–0 – 0–1 Scotland  8–1 0–1 3–1 4–1 –

Group 4

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Ukraine 8 5 2 1 24 9 +15 17  Poland 8 5 1 2 18 9 +9 16  Hungary 8 4 3 1 15 10 +5 15  Romania 8 2 2 4 14 13 +1 8  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 0 0 8 0 30 −30 0

Bosnia and Herzegovina  – 0–2 0–4 0–5 0–5 Hungary  2–0 – 4–2 1–1 1–1 Poland  1–0 0–0 – 2–0 4–1 Romania  4–0 2–3 1–4 – 0–0 Ukraine  7–0 4–2 3–1 3–1 –

Group 5

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  England 8 7 1 0 30 2 +28 22  Spain 8 6 1 1 37 4 +33 19  Austria 8 3 1 4 14 12 +2 10  Turkey 8 2 1 5 10 23 −13 7  Malta 8 0 0 8 1 51 −50 0

Austria  – 0–4 6–0 0–1 4–0 England  3–0 – 8–0 1–0 3–0 Malta  0–2 0–6 – 0–13 0–2 Spain  2–0 2–2 9–0 – 5–1 Turkey  2–2 0–3 5–1 0–5 –

Group 6

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Switzerland 8 7 0 1 28 6 +22 21  Russia 8 6 1 1 30 6 +24 19  Republic of Ireland 8 4 1 3 12 10 +2 13  Israel 8 2 0 6 4 24 −20 6  Kazakhstan 8 0 0 8 4 32 −28 0

Israel  – 1–0 0–3 1–6 1–2 Kazakhstan  0–1 – 1–2 0–6 2–4 Republic of Ireland  3–0 2–1 – 1–1 1–2 Russia  4–0 8–0 3–0 – 0–3 Switzerland   6–0 8–0 2–0 1–2 –

Group 7

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Italy 8 7 1 0 38 3 +35 22  Finland 8 6 1 1 25 6 +19 19  Portugal 8 4 0 4 17 10 +7 12  Slovenia 8 2 0 6 7 27 −20 6  Armenia 8 0 0 8 1 42 −41 0

Armenia  – 0–4 0–8 0–3 1–5 Finland  7–0 – 1–3 4–1 4–1 Italy  7–0 1–1 – 2–0 6–0 Portugal  7–0 0–1 1–3 – 1–0 Slovenia  1–0 0–3 0–8 0–4 –

Group 8

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Sweden 8 7 1 0 36 3 +33 22  Czech Republic 8 4 1 3 19 6 +13 13  Belgium 8 3 1 4 18 13 +5 10  Wales 8 3 0 5 23 16 +7 9  Azerbaijan 8 1 1 6 2 60 −58 4

Azerbaijan  – 0–0 0–5 0–3 2–1 Belgium  11–0 – 0–3 1–4 2–3 Czech Republic  8–0 1–2 – 0–1 2–1 Sweden  17–0 2–1 0–0 – 5–1 Wales  15–0 0–1 2–0 0–4 –

Play-off stages

Seeding

The eight UEFA qualification group winners qualified for the play-offs. The play-off draw was seeded according to results in this qualifying competition and those for UEFA Women's EURO 2009.^[2]

Group	Team	Seeding coefficient
8	Sweden	2.875
1	France	2.833
2	Norway	2.750
5	England	2.625
3	Denmark	2.563
7	Italy	2.500
4	Ukraine	2.250
6	Switzerland	2.000

Direct qualification

Each seeded team was drawn against an unseeded opponent to play a two-legged tie. The four winners advanced to the finals in Germany. The four losers advanced to the repechage rounds for a chance to qualify against a CONCACAF opponent.

Ties were drawn on 30 August with the first legs scheduled for 11–12 September and the return legs on 15–16 September.^[3]

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
France	3–2	Italy	0–0	3–2
England	5–2	Switzerland	2–0	3–2
Ukraine	0–3	Norway	0–1	0–2
Sweden	4–3	Denmark	2–1	2–2

Repechage I

The four losers from the direct qualification play-offs met in two sets of two-legged ties on 2 and 6 October. The winners advanced to the second repechage round.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Denmark	1–3	Switzerland	1–3	0–0
Ukraine	0–3	Italy	0–3	0–0

Repechage II

The two winners from the first repechage round met in a two-legged tie on 23 and 27 October. The winner advanced to play the third-placed team from the CONCACAF qualification for a spot in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup finals.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Italy	5–2	Switzerland	1–0	4–2

Italy won 5–2 on aggregate and advanced to the UEFA-CONCACAF play-off.

References and notes

• UEFA Site

1. ↑ Women's World Cup hopefuls await draw, from uefa.com, retrieved 26 August 2010
2. ↑ Play-off race reaches final stretch
3. ↑ Denmark and Ukraine complete play-off lineup