Group A of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 20 to 30 July 2023.[1] The group consisted of hosts New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines and Switzerland. The top two teams, Switzerland and Norway, advanced to the round of 16.[2]
New Zealand became the first FIFA Women's World Cup host country to be eliminated in the group stage; it was also the sixth consecutive exit in which New Zealand had failed to advance past the first round. While this was the fifth time Norway finished second in a Women's World Cup group, this was Switzerland's first experience of topping a group in the tournament's history.
Teams
edit| Draw position | Team | Pot | Confederation | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
Previous best performance |
FIFA Rankings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2022[nb 1] | June 2023 | |||||||||
| A1 |  New Zealand |
1 | OFC | Hosts | 25 June 2020 | 6th | 2019 | Group stage (1991, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) | 22 | 26 |
| A2 |  Norway |
2 | UEFA | UEFA Group F winners | 2 September 2022 | 9th | 2019 | Winners (1995) | 12 | 12 |
| A3 |  Philippines |
4 | AFC | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup semi-finalists | 30 January 2022 | 1st | — | Debut | 53 | 46 |
| A4 |  Switzerland |
3 | UEFA | UEFA play-off best ranked winners | 11 October 2022 | 2nd | 2015 | Round of 16 (2015) | 21 | 20 |
Notes
- ^ The rankings of October 2022 were used for seeding for the final draw.
Standings
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Norway
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 4 | |
| 3 | New Zealand (H)
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Philippines
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 3 |
In the round of 16:
Matches
editAll times listed are local, NZST (UTC+12).
New Zealand vs Norway
edit| New Zealand | 1–0 | Norway |
|---|---|---|
Wilkinson  48' |
Report |
          New Zealand
|
    Norway
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Player of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Philippines vs Switzerland
edit     Philippines
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     Switzerland
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Player of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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New Zealand vs Philippines
editThis was only the second ever win for a Southeast Asian country (excluding Australia which geographically is not in Southeast Asia) at a senior World Cup (male or female) and the first since Thailand beat Ivory Coast in the 2015 Women's World Cup.
| New Zealand | 0–1 | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Bolden 24' |
| New Zealand
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     Philippines
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Player of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Switzerland vs Norway
editSwitzerland  | 0–0 | Norway |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
     Switzerland
|
Norway
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Player of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Switzerland vs New Zealand
edit| Switzerland
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     New Zealand
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Player of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Norway vs Philippines
edit| Norway | 6–0 | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
    Norway
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Philippines
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Player of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Discipline
editFair play points would have been used as tiebreakers in the group had the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:[2]
- first yellow card: minus 1 point;
- indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points;
- direct red card: minus 4 points;
- yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points;
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| New Zealand
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1 | –1 | |||||||||||
| Norway
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1 | 1 | –2 | ||||||||||
| Switzerland
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2 | –2 | |||||||||||
| Philippines
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | –7 | ||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Match schedule: FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023" (PDF). FIFA. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ a b "Regulations: FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ "Wilkinson: This is the greatest day of my life". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.