The2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided the 15 teams which played at the2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the hostChina initially qualified automatically as the host nation.Thequalification process for the2003 FIFA Women's World Cup saw 99 teams from the sixFIFA confederations compete for the 16 places in the tournament's finals. The places were divided as follows:

• Africa - represented by theCAF: 2 berths
• Asia -AFC: 3.5
• Europe -UEFA: 5
• North,Central America & theCaribbean -CONCACAF: 2.5
• Oceania -OFC: 1
• South America -CONMEBOL: 2

Team	Qualified as	Qualification date	Appearance in finals	Last appearance	Consecutive streak	Previous best performance
China	Hosts Runners-up (2003 AFC Women's Championship)	26 October 2000	4th	1999	4	Runners-up (1999)
Germany	UEFA qualification Group 4 winners	18 April 2002	4th	1999	4	Runners-up (1995)
Norway	UEFA qualification Group 1 winners	9 May 2002	4th	1999	4	Champions (1995)
Russia	UEFA qualification Group 3 winners	8 June 2002	2nd	1999	2	Quarter-finals (1999)
Sweden	UEFA qualification Group 2 winners	26 June 2002	4th	1999	4	Third place (1991)
Canada	2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup runners-up	6 November 2002	3rd	1999	3	Group stage (1995)
United States	2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup champions	6 November 2002	4th	1999	4	Champions (1991,1999)
France	UEFA qualification Play-Off winners	16 November 2002	1st	–	1	Debut
Ghana	2002 African Women's Championship runners-up	17 December 2002	2nd	1999	2	Group stage (1999)
Nigeria	2002 African Women's Championship champions	18 December 2002	4th	1999	4	Quarter-finals (1999)
Australia	2003 OFC Women's Championship champions	13 April 2003	3rd	1999	3	Group stage (1995,1999)
Brazil	2003 South American Women's Football Championship champions	27 April 2003	4th	1999	4	Third place (1999)
Argentina	2003 South American Women's Football Championship runners-up	27 April 2003	1st	–	1	Debut
North Korea	2003 AFC Women's Championship champions	19 June 2003	2nd	1999	2	Group stage (1999)
South Korea	2003 AFC Women's Championship 3rd place	21 June 2003	1st	–	1	Debut
Japan	CONCACAF–AFC play-off winners	12 July 2003	4th	1999	4	Quarter-finals (1995)

Like the previous edition, theAFC Women's Championship served as the tournament qualification forAFC members. Fourteens competed in the competition which included the World Cup hosts inChina. After the group stage which eliminated ten teams from qualifying, the semi-finals saw the first team inNorth Korea as they defeatedJapan 3-0. After China won the second semi, the third-place play-off would seeSouth Korea qualify with a 1-0 victory over Japan which meant Japan had to qualify via play-off against the third place team from CONCACAF (Mexico).

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
North Korea	4	3	1	0	45	2	+43	10
South Korea	4	3	1	0	20	2	+18	10
Thailand	4	2	0	2	6	21	−15	6
Hong Kong	4	1	0	3	2	24	−22	3
Singapore	4	0	0	4	0	24	−24	0

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	4	4	0	0	34	0	+34	12
Myanmar	4	2	1	1	11	8	+3	7
Chinese Taipei	4	2	1	1	7	7	0	7
Philippines	4	1	0	3	2	26	−24	3
Guam	4	0	0	4	2	15	−13	0

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
China	3	3	0	0	29	0	+29	9
Vietnam	3	2	0	1	6	9	−3	6
India	3	1	0	2	7	14	−7	3
Uzbekistan	3	0	0	3	2	21	−19	0

Knockout stage (top two teams qualify for World Cup)

	Semifinals				Final
	19 June -Bangkok
	North Korea	3
					21 June -Bangkok
	Japan	0
					North Korea	2
	19 June -Bangkok
					China	1
	China	3
	South Korea	1
					Third place
					21 June -Bangkok
					Japan	0
					South Korea	1

Like the previous edition, theAfrica Women's Championship served as the tournament qualification forCAF members.

• Qualifying stage:Qualifying for the 2002 edition took place between 10 August to 13 October 2002. 21 teams entered the qualification with seven teams getting the bye into the second-round. Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The seven winners of the second round qualified for the final tournament to join the hosts Nigeria who qualified automatically.
• Final tournament: Eight teams played in the2002 African Women's Championship, which was held from 7 to 20 December 2002 inNigeria. They were drawn into two groups of four teams. The top two teams of each group advanced to the knockout stage, where the winners of the semi-finals and the third place play-off qualified for the World Cup.

The seven winners of thesecond qualifying round advanced to the final tournament:Angola,Cameroon,Ethiopia,Ghana,Mali,South Africa, andZimbabwe.

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Ghana	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6	9	Knockout stage
Nigeria	3	2	0	1	8	2	+6	6
Mali	3	0	1	2	3	9	−6	1
Ethiopia	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	Angola	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
4	Zimbabwe	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2	2

Knockout stage (top two teams qualify for World Cup)

	Semifinals				Final
	17 December -Warri
	Ghana	3
					20 December -Warri
	Cameroon	2
					Ghana	0
	18 December -Warri
					Nigeria	2
	South Africa	0
	Nigeria	5
					Third place
					20 December -Warri
					Cameroon	3
					South Africa	0

Qualified: Sweden -- Russia -- Germany -- Norway -- France

The 16 teams belonging to Class A of European women's football were drawn into four groups, from which the group winners qualify for the World Cup. The four runners-up were played in playoff-matches for the 5th berth.

Qualified: United States -- Canada

The2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup second-placedCanada qualified for the2003 FIFA Women's World Cup. The winnerUSA qualified as host. The third-placedMexico played againstJapan in two play-off matches for qualification.

Qualified: Australia

The2003 OFC Women's Championship determined theOFC's one qualifier for the2003 FIFA Women's World Cup — the winnerAustralia.

Qualified: Brazil -- Argentina

The fourth edition of theSudamericano Femenino (Women's South American Championship) in 2003 determined theCONMEBOL's qualifiersBrazil andArgentina.

The draw for the order of legs was held at the FIFA headquarters inZürich, Switzerland on 4 March 2003. The matches were originally scheduled to take place on 10 and 17 May 2003.^[1] However, due to the postponement of the2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, the matches instead took place on 5 and 12 July 2003.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Mexico	2–4	Japan	2–2	0–2

• Tables & results at RSSSF.com

• 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
• 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
• FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
• 2001 in women's international association football
• 2002 in women's international association football
• 2003 in women's international association football

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