Women's World Cup qualifying draw: Spain test awaits Hungary

A record 51 European national teams have entered the qualifying phase for the next Women’s World Cup, an improvement on the 48 countries who entered the race to reach this summer's Women's European Championship.

In the European qualifiers for the 9th Women's World Cup, UEFA has formed nine qualifying groups, from which the winners will progress automatically to the finals tournament, while each group runner-up will enter the play-off stages to contest the final three spots on offer for our continent.

Nadine Kessler, head of UEFA’s women’s section, and David Gough, head of the Competition Committee, conducted the draw in Nyon by first pulling out the names of the teams from the 1st pot, then the 2nd pot and so on.

Short profiles of Hungary's qualifying group opponents:

Pot 1 - SPAIN: One of the most rapidly-developing countries in European women's football. The national team has participated in the last two World Cups in 2015 and 2019; at the 2013 and 2017 European Championship and has qualified for next year’s European Championship in England. At the beginning of the decade, Spain drew attention to itself mainly thanks to its outstanding performance in the European Championships in all age groups, but now all the big clubs are investing a lot in their women’s teams and its paying off; FC Barcelona may reach the Women’s Champions League final this year for the second time, Atlético Madrid has a strong team and Real Madrid is also focusing more and more on its women's section.

Pot 2 - SCOTLAND: The most recent World Cup in France was Scotland's first World Cup so far, but the country also reached the 2017 European Championship in the Netherlands. They missed out on the tournament in England this summer though, finishing third behind Finland and Portugal in their group.

Pot 3 - UKRAINE: neighbour to the north-east has never reached a World Cup and has only competed in the European Championship once, in 2009. There was hardly any well-known players back then, but it was a new and talented generation that failed to qualify for the Euro in England this year when the team was knocked out in the qualifiers by Northern Ireland. In competitive matches, Ukraine has the better record, but the team led by Markó Edina has recorded a win in Kiev in the past.

Pot 5 - FAROE ISLANDS: The lowest-ranked team in the group has never played in a big tournament. The Faroe Islands were in the same group as Norway, Northern Ireland, Wales and Belarus in the most European Championship qualifiers, failing to score against any of them. Most of their players play football in their domestic league, but they also have several representatives in the Danish national champioship.

Group matches must be played between September 13, 2021 and September 6, 2022.

According to new coach Margret Kratz, Hungary will need to fight with a 'never-say-die' attitude in these World Cup qualifiers, where the players will have a chance to measure their knowledge and extend their limits:

“We knew in advance that we would be competing with three teams that are ranked ahead of us, and these will be Spain, Scotland and Ukraine. Spain will be a big challenge but I’ve always loved fighting such strong opponents. In such matches, we can show the strength and cohesion of our team. Regardless of the outcome, I'll be able to see who is capable of leading, who doesn't give up and who is able to stand up to such tough opponents. We'll need teamwork, willpower, fighting spirit and a 'never-say-die' mentality!

As for Scotland, we'll need to play against them at the level we want to reach, for example, where Finland are now. A very interesting contests awaits us, where we can see how far away we are from their level of performance. It'll also be very interesting to play against Ukraine, as our short-term goal is to be in the third pot of seeds for the next draw, which is where they are now. Being in the draw from the fourth pot of seeds put us in a difficult situation, so now we need to set realistic goals for ourselves to move forward into the third pot. Achieving this would put us in a much better starting position in the future".