Auckland, New Zealand, Feb 18 () Cameroon beat Thailand 2-0 and Haiti defeated Senegal 4-0 on Saturday in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 play-off openers in Auckland and Hamilton, New Zealand.
The play-offs feature 10 teams divided into three groups, and only the group winners will get the last three tickets to this summer’s 32-team World Cup finals, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, reports Xinhua news agency.
The play-offs will not be played on a round-robin format. Instead, Portugal will face off against the winner between Cameroon and Thailand to fight for the berth in Group A.
In Group B, Senegal and Haiti vie for the right to challenge Chile, while in Group C, the winners from Chinese Taipei vs Paraguay and Papua New Guinea vs Panama will square off for the ticket.
Cameroon now take on Portugal and Haiti face Chile next Wednesday to decide the qualifiers from Groups A and B respectively.
This is the first time in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup that a play-off tournament has been held to settle qualification.
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