Which countries have qualified for the 2027 Women’s World Cup?

ASFN Admin · Mar 3, 2026

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Today marks 100 days to the men’s World Cup, but qualifiers for the following World Cup are already underway.

The 2027 Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Brazil, begins on June 24, 2027. The 10th edition of the tournament will be the first held in South America and many teams begin their qualification this week.

Come summer, we will know over half of the 32 nations set to compete. By the end of the year, 29 nations will have booked their spots.

The final three places will be determined by the results of the inter-confederation playoffs in February 2027.

Which countries have secured their spot in Brazil next summer? How many places are awarded to each continental confederation? What are the playoff match-ups?

Here is The Athletic’s guide to how things stand in the qualification process. We will update this article as it progresses.

How many teams from each confederation qualify for the World Cup?

FIFA is split into six confederations. Each one represents a different soccer region of the globe and has been allocated a different number of places at the 2027 World Cup, as well as berths for the inter-confederation playoffs.

AFC (Asia): Six direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.

CAF (Africa): Four direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.

Concacaf (North America, Central America & Caribbean): Four direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.

CONMEBOL (South America): Two direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs. Hosts Brazil qualify automatically.

OFC (Oceania): One direct place and one team will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.

UEFA (Europe): 11 direct places and one team will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.

How do teams qualify?

AFC: The 2026 Asian Cup, held from March 1 until March 21, will decide which teams qualify from Asia.

Twelve teams enter the competition at the group stage, with eight moving on to the quarterfinals. The four winning teams from the quarterfinals will qualify for the 2027 World Cup, with the four losing quarterfinalists facing each other in a playoff for Asia’s final two direct qualifying spots. The two losing playoff teams will head to the inter-conference playoff.

CAF: The 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, held from March 17 until April 3, will decide which teams qualify from Africa.

Sixteen teams enter the competition at the group stage, with eight moving onto the quarterfinals. The four winning teams from the quarterfinals will qualify for the 2027 World Cup. The four losing quarterfinalists will face off, with the winning two teams snapping up the two spots at the inter-confederation playoff.

Concacaf: Twenty-nine teams began the preliminary group stage of Concacaf qualifying in November 2025. The first stage consists of five groups of five teams and one group of four. The first stage will conclude in April 2026 after each team has played the rest of their group once.

The six group winners will then advance to the Concacaf W Championship, to be held in a centralized location in November 2026. The United States and Canada have already received a bye based on FIFA rankings, so they will join the six group winners.

The eight teams at the Concacaf W Championship will be seeded by FIFA ranking and then play each other in a single-elimination quarterfinal bracket. The four quarterfinal winners will qualify for the World Cup. The four losing quarterfinalists face off to decide the two spots available for the inter-confederation playoff.

CONMEBOL: For the first time, the South American teams are using a league phase to decide World Cup qualifying. It is being contested between October 2025 and June 2026. Nine teams will face each other once, four home and four away, across eight matchdays to decide the league. The top two finishers will qualify for the 2027 World Cup, with the third and fourth-placed teams heading to the inter-confederation playoff.

OFC: Eight teams have been split into two groups of four. They will face each team in their group once between February 27 and March 5. The top two teams in each group will then advance to the semifinals, to be held on April 11, with the eventual winners heading to the final on April 14. The winner of the OFC final will qualify for the World Cup, and the runner-up will get a spot at the inter-confederation playoff.

UEFA: Europe is opting for a Nations League format to decide the first round of qualifying, with 53 nations split into leagues A (16 teams), B (16 teams) and C (21 teams), and then divided into groups of four or three within those leagues. The league stage will begin on March 3 and conclude on June 9, and will be a double round-robin format (ie, playing each team home and away).

The group winners in the four League A groups will qualify for the World Cup, with the other 12 teams from League A heading into the playoff phase of UEFA qualifying. The top three teams in each of the four League B groups also advance to the playoff phase, along with the six group winners and two best runners-up in League C.

In total, 32 teams will enter the playoff phase of UEFA qualifying. There will then be a seeded draw to decide the matches in round one and round two of the UEFA playoff phase, to be held October 7-13 and November 26-December 5.

The UEFA playoff phases will see teams play two-legged elimination matches, with the higher seed at home in the second leg. Once the field has been whittled down from 32 to 16, and then from 16 to eight, the seven highest-ranked teams remaining will qualify for the World Cup. The lowest-ranked team that won both of its ties in the UEFA playoff phase will take the final spot at the inter-confederation playoff.

Inter-confederation playoff:

First phase:

Two AFC teams

Two CAF teams

One OFC team

One CONMEBOL team (whichever is lower in the FIFA rankings)

The first phase of the inter-confederation playoff will be held in a “centralized” location in November/December 2026. Two teams will advance to the second phase.

Second phase:

Two Concacaf teams

One CONMEBOL team (whichever is higher in the FIFA rankings)

One UEFA team

Two winning teams from the first phase

The second phase of the inter-confederation playoff will be held in a centralized location in February 2027. Three teams will advance to win a place at the 2027 World Cup.