Women's EURO qualifying group stage report

The UEFA Women's EURO qualifying group stage involved a record 47 teams competing for 15 places alongside hosts England in the finals from 6 to 31 July 2022. Twelve of those spots are now confirmed, with six more teams to contest April's play-offs for the last three berths.

• Results
• Standings
• Finals moved to 2022

How qualifying works

• The group winners and the three runners-up with the best record against the sides first, third, fourth and fifth in their sections will join hosts England in the final tournament.

• The other six runners-up will play off in April for the remaining three berths in the 16-team finals.

State of play

• Qualified: Austria*, Belgium, Denmark, England (hosts), Finland, France, Germany, Iceland*, Italy*, Netherlands (holders), Norway, Spain, Sweden
• Play-offs: Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine

*One of three best runners-up

Group A

Netherlands (30 points, qualified), Russia (24, play-offs), Slovenia (18), Kosovo (10), Turkey (5), Estonia (1)

• Netherlands, with ten wins out of ten, qualified as group winners.
• Russia will go into the play-offs.

Netherlands celebrate their qualificationGetty Images

Group B

Denmark (28, qualified), Italy (25, qualified), Bosnia and Herzegovina (18), Malta (10), Israel (7), Georgia (0)

• Denmark won 3-1 in November in Italy, who had not lost at home in five years, to seal qualification and clinched the group with a 0-0 draw in the 1 December return fixture.
• Italy finished second and beat Israel 12-0 in the last qualifier on 24 February to secure qualification as a best runner-up.

Group C

Norway (18, qualified), Northern Ireland (14, play-offs), Wales (14), Belarus (6), Faroe Islands (0)

Cancelled: Norway vs Faroe Islands, Norway vs Belarus

• Norway, who did not drop a point, have qualified as group winners.
• Northern Ireland beat Belarus and the Faroe Islands in their final two games to pip Wales to the play-offs on head-to-head away goals.

Spain are into the finalsGetty Images

Group D

Spain (22, qualified), Czech Republic (16, play-offs), Poland (14), Moldova (3), Azerbaijan (3)

• Spain qualified as group winners.
• Czech Republic booked a play-off spot after Poland lost to Spain in the last group fixture.

Group E

Finland (22, qualified), Portugal (19, play-offs), Scotland (12), Albania (6), Cyprus (0)

• Finland qualified as group winners by beating Portugal with a last-gasp Linda Sällström goal.
• Portugal came second and will be in the play-offs.

Finland celebrate qualifyingJuha Tamminen via FA of Finland

Group F

Sweden (22, qualified), Iceland (19, qualified), Slovakia (10), Hungary (7), Latvia (0)

• Sweden qualified as group winners after an away draw and home win against Iceland.
• Iceland took second place with a 3-1 comeback away win that finished off the hopes of opponents Slovakia, then won in Hungary on 1 December, a result that confirmed qualification as one of the three best runners-up.

Group G

France (22, qualified), Austria (19, qualified), Serbia (12), North Macedonia (6), Kazakhstan (0)

• France beat Austria 3-0 in November to qualify as group winners.
• Austria finished second and results in other groups mean they have qualified as one of the best runners-up.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto (right) celebrates with Grace Geyoro after scoring in France's decisive win against AustriaIcon Sport via Getty Images

Group H

Belgium (21, qualified), Switzerland (19, play-offs), Romania (12), Croatia (7), Lithuania (0)

• Belgium qualified as group winners with their 4-0 defeat of Switzerland.
• Switzerland finished second and were pipped by Italy, Iceland and Austria on goal difference for automatic qualification so go into the play-offs.

Group I

Germany (24, qualified), Ukraine (15, play-offs), Republic of Ireland (13), Greece (7), Montenegro (0)

• Germany qualified as group winners with a 100% record.
• Ukraine overtook Ireland on the final day to land themselves a play-off.

Calendar

Play-off draw: 12:00 CET, 5 March 2021
Play-offs: 7–13 April 2021
Finals draw: tbc, England
Finals: 6–31 July 2022, England

The lowdown

• The Netherlands are defending champions and reached their first Women's World Cup final in 2019.

The Netherlands have the right to wear the champions' badge©Getty Images

• World Cup semi-finalists Sweden and England (as Great Britain) will join the Netherlands at the Olympic tournament in Japan in 2021.

• France, Germany, Italy and Norway reached the last World Cup quarter-finals, Spain went out in the last 16 and Scotland, on debut, fell in the group stage.

• Denmark were EURO 2017 runners-up while Austria and England also made the semis.

• Germany won every EURO from 1995 until 2017, when they fell to Denmark in the last eight, a run of six straight tournament victories.

• Germany have won eight titles and Norway two, while Sweden and the Netherlands have one each.

• Cyprus made their senior competitive debut while Kosovo were also in their first Women's EURO.

• France and Austria were in the same group at UEFA Women's EURO 2017 and both got through.

• Finland coach Anna Signeul was in charge of Scotland when they marked their finals debut in 2017.

• Norway also qualified ahead of Wales for the 2017 finals.

• Portugal pipped Finland to the 2017 play-offs en route to a debut finals. Switzerland ousted Belgium on away goals in the 2019 Women's World Cup play-offs before losing to the Netherlands.