Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema (second left) celebrates scoring their second
goal against Tottenham with teammates during the FA Women's Super
League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- Credit: PA
The World Cup 2023 qualification draw was made ahead of the tournament being hosted in Australia and New Zealand.
Arsenal players gathered in anticipation to see who they would play
on the road to the best competition in World Football, the FIFA Women's
World Cup.
England were drawn into Group D with Leah Williamson, Jordan Nobbs,
Lotte Wubben-Moy and Beth Mead learning their opponents who are Austria,
Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, Latvia and North Macedonia.
It is also the beginning of Sarina Wiegman's first qualification campaign with the Lionesses as she takes charge in September.
This
means that Manuela Zinsberger and Viktoria Schnaderbeck who represent
Austria will meet their Gunners teammates when England meet Austria in
what is set to be an intriguing two matches in the group.
England played Northern Ireland in a friendly back in February as
Northern Ireland prepared for their historic Euro 2022 qualification,
with England winning 6-0 in a game that Wubben-Moy made her
international debut.
Jill Roord, Danielle van de Donk and
Vivianne Miedema will take on Iceland, the Czech Republic, Belarus and
Cyprus with the Netherlands.
The Dutch are very much favourites to win the group and they were
runners up in the 2019 tournament in France as they lost out in the
final to the USA.
Katie McCabe's Republic of Ireland side have been drawn in Group A against Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Georgia.
Sweden
are ranked fifth in the Fifa World rankings, Finland are 24th, and
Ireland are 34th. Slovakia, meanwhile, are ranked 46th and Georgia are
126th.
McCabe recently won her 50th cap for her country away to Belgium.
Lisa
Evans, Jennifer Beattie and Kim Little's Scotland side have been drawn
in Group B alongside Spain, Ukraine, Hungary and the Faroe Island's.
All
four nations are familiar opponents for Scotland, most notably the top
seed Spain, ranked 13 in the world, who they faced most recently at Euro
2017, winning 1-0 with a Caroline Weir strike.
Swiss trio Lia
Wälti, Malin Gut and Noelle Maritz who helped their Switzerland qualify
for Euro 2022 last month will play Italy, Romania, Croatia, Moldova,
Lithuania in Group G.
Romania, Croatia and Lithuania were
opponents in Switzerland's group for Euro 2022 qualification and will
once again battle it out for a place on the world stage.
Leonie Maier's Germany side will face Portugal, Serbia, Israel, Turkey and Bulgaria on their road to to the tournament.
Germany are very much the favourites to win the group as they go in search of their third Women's World Cup trophy.
The nine group winners qualify directly for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The
nine group runners-up will then contest play-off matches in October
2022 to determine the two remaining direct spots, as well as the spot
for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup play-off tournament.