Vietnam in pot 3 of Women’s World Cup

The October update of FIFA rankings put Vietnam at 34th in the world. The position is a criterion for seeding 32 teams at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Hosts Australia and New Zealand are in pot 1 by default, along with the world’s top six – the U.S., Sweden, Germany, England, France and Spain.

Pot 2 contains Canada, the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Italy, China and South Korea. Vietnam are in pot 3 with Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Colombia, Argentina, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The last pot features Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Morocco, Zambia and three teams from the playoffs.

From the pots, FIFA will host draw for the group stage on Oct. 22 in New Zealand, dividing 32 teams into eight groups of four, with each group having four teams from four different pots.

The best scenario for Vietnam would be in the same group with New Zealand, Italy and Zambia, but the worst would be grouped with the U.S., the Netherlands and Portugal.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will take place from July 20 to Aug. 20. The group stage is played in a round-robin format and the top two teams of each group will advance to the round of 16. This is Vietnam’s very first time in a Women’s World Cup event.