What are the 2023 Women's World Cup tiebreaker rules?

There is little margin for error in the group stage of the Women’s World Cup.

Only half of the 32-team field will advance to the knockout stage in Australia and New Zealand. With just three group-play games, all matches carry added importance beyond a win, loss and draw. Every goal, save and card could play a factor in deciding which nations reach the round of 16.

This will be the first Women’s World Cup to feature 32 teams. Only two teams from each of the eight groups will advance, and teams will have to factor in a different tiebreaking format after growing accustomed to a 24-team tournament.

What happens when two teams in the same group are level on points after three matches? Let’s break down FIFA’s tiebreaker scenarios for the Women’s World Cup:

What is the first tiebreaker during the Women’s World Cup?

If two teams in the same group have the same number of points through three games, the first tiebreaker criteria is goal differential. The team with the higher goal differential gets the higher spot in the standings.

What is the second tiebreaker during the Women’s World Cup?

If two teams share the same number of points and goal differential, the next criteria to determine ranking is number of goals scored in all group matches. The higher-scoring team gets the advantage over the lower-scoring one.

Full list of tiebreakers at the 2023 Women’s World Cup

Here is FIFA’s step-by-step process for ranking teams in a group:

Step 1

1. Greatest number of points obtained in all group matches
2. Superior goal difference in all group matches
3. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches

If two or more teams are equal on all three aspects of Step 1, FIFA moves onto Step 2:

Step 2

4. Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned (could be between two, three or even four teams)
5. Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
6. Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
7. Highest team conduct score relating to the number of yellow and red cards obtained:
   1. Yellow card: minus-1 point
   2. Indirect red card (as a result of two yellow cards): minus-3 points
   3. Direct red card: minus-4 points
   4. Yellow card and direct red card: minus-5 points
8. Drawing of lots by FIFA

What happens if three teams are tied in a Women’s World Cup group?

FIFA uses the criteria above if two, three or four teams are involved.

FIFA works down the list of criteria to determine spots in the table. If one team is given a higher or lower seed based on a given step but not every team’s seed can be determined based on that step, the remaining teams will continue down the list of tiebreaker criteria until the standings are properly sorted.