2027 Women's World Cup: Host, Dates, Format & Teams

The men’s tournament in North America is barely a fortnight in the rearview mirror, and the next FIFA World Cup on the calendar is already taking shape. Brazil will host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, the tenth edition of the tournament and the first ever played in South America — a five-week event across eight cities, running from June 24 to July 25, 2027. Qualifying is well underway, with 14 of the 32 places already filled.

Where is the 2027 Women’s World Cup being played?

Brazil, on its own — not as part of a multi-nation bid the way the men’s tournament was split across the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026. Eight cities will stage matches: Rio de Janeiro (Maracanã), São Paulo (Arena Corinthians), Brasília (Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha), Belo Horizonte (Mineirão), Fortaleza (Castelão), Porto Alegre (Beira-Rio), Salvador (Fonte Nova) and Recife (Arena Pernambuco). It is the first time the Women’s World Cup has been held in South America, and the first time any FIFA World Cup, men’s or women’s, has been staged there since Brazil’s own 2014 men’s tournament.

When does the 2027 Women’s World Cup start and finish?

June 24 to July 25, 2027. That is a five-week window, matching the length of the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand, and it means the competition will run through Brazil’s winter — cooler, drier conditions than the tropical heat a June kickoff might suggest in the country’s northern cities.

What is the tournament format?

Unchanged from 2023: 32 teams, eight groups of four, and 64 matches from the group stage through to a straight knockout bracket starting at the Round of 16. FIFA expanded the men’s tournament to 48 teams for 2026, but there is no equivalent jump on the women’s side this cycle — the last expansion, from 24 to 32 teams, happened in 2023.

Who has already qualified?

Fourteen teams, as of July 2026, with three confederations further along than others.

AFC, CONMEBOL and OFC qualifying is finished. UEFA has confirmed four of its places so far, with more decided through group runners-up and play-offs later in the cycle. CAF (Africa) and CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean) are both still mid-qualification, which means teams like the United States — semi-finalists or better at every Women’s World Cup since the tournament began — have not yet booked their place. The remaining spots, including a handful reserved for inter-confederation play-offs, are due to be settled by February 2027.

Who is the defending champion?

Spain. Aitana Bonmatí and a golden generation of La Roja players beat England 1-0 in the 2023 final in Sydney, the country’s first Women’s World Cup title, and Spain has since gone on to add a European Championship in the same cycle. They arrive in Brazil already qualified via a UEFA group win, defending the crown rather than chasing it.

Why does this matter this far out?

Because the field is already forming. Nearly half the tournament’s teams are locked in more than a year before kickoff, and the ones with the furthest to go — CAF’s and CONCACAF’s qualifiers, plus the play-off route — will spend the rest of 2026 and early 2027 finding out whether they are in. Brazil’s own build-up, as the first South American hosts of a Women’s World Cup, is a story in itself: eight stadiums built or renovated for a men’s tournament just over a decade ago now get a second life for the women’s game’s biggest stage.