Roundup of the latest UEFA Qualifying action for 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup featuring England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
With the qualification process now approaching the business end with just three further matchdays to come, every team know that victories will be crucial to securing a place at next summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
This round also saw 114 goals scored in total with four teams hitting double-digit figures as we round up all the action across every group.
Group A
Filippa Angeldal netted a hattrick as Sweden delivered a ruthless 15-0 away thrashing of Georgia to open up a 11-point lead over the Republic of Ireland, who weren’t in action in this round.
Martina Surnovska’s 16th minute equaliser saw Slovakia fight back to snatch a 1-1 draw at home to Finland, having fallen behind initially to Tuija Hyyrynen’s sixth minute opener.
Group B
Fanny Vago fired Hungary to within a point of second-placed Scotland after the Hungarians ran out 7-0 home winners over Faroe Islands in the only Group B tie of this round.
Group C
Vivianne Miedema delivered six goals as Group C leaders – Netherlands thrashed Cyprus 12-0 in Groningen, whilst Jill Roord scored a hattrick as she, Lineth Beerensteyn, Sherida Spitse and Esmee Brugts also added their names to the scoresheet.
Iceland remain second after defeating Belarus 5-0 in Belgrade, Serbia, in which Karolina Vilhjalmsdottir netted twice.
Group D
Beth Mead’s four goals fired England to an eventual 10-0 away victory against North Macedonia as Ella Toone added a hattrick, whilst Georgia Stanway produced a brace as Ellen White netted her 50th international goal.
Austria remain second and five points behind the Lionesses after defeating third-placed Northern Ireland 3-1 in Wiener Neustadt.
Amy Thompson’s late brace fired fourth-placed Luxembourg to a 3-2 victory over Latvia.
Group E
Early goals from Janni Thomsen and Olivia Moller Holdt fired Denmark to a 2-0 win over Malta and six points clear of second-placed Russia, with the latter team currently suspended due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Milena Nikolic’s 94th minute winner saw Bosnia & Herzegovina defeat Azerbaijan.
Group F
Ada Hegerberg’s hattrick helped Norway thrash Kosovo 5-1 in Sandefjord to stay top of Group F.
Tine de Caigny and Tessa Wullaert’s braces plus a 79th minute goal from Jassina Blom saw Belgium again stay second after thrashing Albania 5-0 in Elbasan.
Nikola Karczewska’s six goals fired Poland to a dominant 12-0 home victory over Armenia in Gdynia to stay third and within five points of automatic qualification.
Group G
Rahel Kiwic’s 79th minute equaliser saw Group G leaders, Switzerland snatch a 1-1 draw away to Romania who had led through Maria Ficzay’s 42nd minute opener.
Second-placed Italy consequently moved to within a point of Switzerland after thrashing Lithuania 7-0 in Parma, as Arianna Caruso and Valentina Bergamaschi both struck twice.
Ella Ljustina’s 31st minute goal saw Croatia scrape a 1-0 away win in Moldova in a scrappy battle between two teams eliminated from contention for the World Cup.
Group H
Goals from Lena Oberdorf, Klara Buhl and Felicitas Rauch saw Germany defeat Portugal 3-0 in Bielefeld to stay top of Group H.
Serbia consequently leapfrogged Portugal into second after thrashing Israel 4-0 at home in Stara Pazova.
Goals from Ece Turkoglu and Ebru Topcu saw Turkey beat Bulgaria 2-0 away in Plovdiv to stay fourth, despite being eliminated from contention to qualify for the World Cup.
Group I
Goals from Wendie Renard and Marie-Antoinette Katoto fired France to a 2-1 away victory in Wales, despite Sophie Ingle netting a 71st minute consolatory goal for the hosts.
Slovenia consequently leapfrogged Wales into second through first-half goals from Lara Prasnikar and Kristina Erman in a 2-0 victory away to Kazakhstan.
Sophia Koggouli’s seven-minute brace saw Greece eventually beat Estonia 3-1 in Tallinn to stay fourth with a four-point gap to second-placed Slovenia.
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