PARIS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands and Sweden beat their respective European rivals to reach the FIFA Women's World Cup semifinals on Saturday, joining Britain to complete the UEFA's quota for next year's women's Olympic football tournament in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
According to a regulation released by the world soccer governing body FIFA in March 2018, France 2019 serves as the Europe qualification for Tokyo 2020 with the three top placed European teams qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
On Saturday, the Dutch side routed Italy 2-0 in Valencienne before Sweden came back from behind to beat two-time champions Germany in Rennes to set up a semifinal clash against each others at the ongoing quadrennial event in France.
It will be the first time that the Oranjeleeuwinnen ensured a berth to a women's Olympic football tournament, an accomplishment that coach Sarina Wiegman described as "a dream come true."
Sweden, on the other hand, will head back to the Olympic stage after their silver medal last time out at Rio 2016.
"We've talked about the possibilities here to go far and win every game. A good sign is that we're now qualified for the Olympics, which was hanging over our heads for awhile. Now we don't have to worry about it," said Sweden head coach Peter Gerhardsson after the Germany match.
Before Saturday's quarterfinal fixtures, Britain secured a berth for Tokyo 2020 after the hosts France lost to defending champions United States 2-1 at Parc des Princes in Paris on Friday evening.
France's elimination from their own World Cup means England, who made the semifinals by ousting Norway 3-0 on Thursday, guaranteed themselves a top-three finish of European teams in this World Cup, and Britain will compete the Olympics in Japan for only the second time as a unified team of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
