Tuesday’s draw placed the pair in Group 3 of League A alongside Iceland and Ukraine, as, despite being European champions, England’s qualification in the Nations League meant they were not in Pot 1, the highest-placed teams for the draw.
Advertisement
Qualifying will begin next year for the 32-team tournament in 2027. Brazil will host the World Cup for the first time in 2027, becoming the first South American nation to do so after nine previous editions.
If they qualify, England will travel to South America hoping to become the sixth nation to win the tournament. The World Cup has eluded them so far, having lost to Spain in the 2023 final. They then beat Spain in the European Championship final this summer, retaining their title after victory over Germany three years earlier.
Being in League A means that England cannot be eliminated in the first qualifying phase and will go to the play-off phase if they do not win their group. However, if they finish last in their group, they will be relegated from the top tier of the Nations League and find themselves in League B.
More important matches, but more repetitions
Analysis by football tactics writer Michael Cox
Advertisement
The aim of the new Women’s World Cup qualifying format in Europe – essentially a continuation of the Nations League rather than a stand-alone process – is to bring together bigger nations for matches worth watching, rather than pitting world giants against minnows.
And, at this point, Spain vs England is clearly the most important match there is. The two teams that played in both the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, with Spain winning 1-0, and the Euro 2025 final, with England winning on penalties after a 1-1 draw, will meet once again. They have also met on two other occasions this year in the Nations League, a 1-0 England win at Wembley and a 2-1 Spain win in Barcelona.
The important caveat here is that both parties will almost certainly eventually qualify. The four-team group also includes Ukraine and Iceland, and while one team qualifies automatically, the other three in this top tier of European qualification will be guaranteed a place in the play-offs, ranked based on their final place in the group. Whoever finishes second between England and Spain will still have a very favorable path to Brazil.
While more matches between strong nations make the process more exciting, some of these encounters are starting to feel repetitive. Sweden, Italy and Denmark have been drawn in the same group for both the Nations League earlier this year and the World Cup qualification process (formerly Wales and now Serbia). Still, it is a better situation than the mismatches in the 2023 qualification process, in which England defeated Latvia 20-0.
Advertisement
What are the groups?
League A:
Group 1: Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Serbia
Group 2: France, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Ireland
Group 3: Spain, England, Iceland, Ukraine
Group 4: Germany, Norway, Austria, Slovenia
B League
Group 1: Wales, Czech Republic, Albania, Montenegro
Group 2: Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Türkiye, Malta
Group 3: Portugal, Finland, Slovakia, Latvia
Group 4: Belgium, Scotland, Israel, Luxembourg
League C
Group 1: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein
Group 2: Croatia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Gibraltar
Group 3: Hungary, Azerbaijan, North Macedonia, Andorra
Group 4: Greece, Faroe Islands, Georgia
Advertisement
Group 5: Romania, Cyprus, Moldova
Group 6: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia
When are the games?
The league phase matches will take place in three international windows from February to June 2026.
The UEFA play-off phase will take place between October and December 2026, before the last chance inter-confederation play-offs take place in February 2027.
How does UEFA qualification work?
Qualification is divided into two phases, the league phase and the play-off phase. Of the three leagues (A, B, C), only League A teams can qualify for the league stage if they win their group after the home and away matches.
Advertisement
The remaining top league teams and lower league nations will compete for the remaining seven direct qualification places in the play-off phase, with one team able to qualify for the inter-confederation play-offs in 2027.
There are two paths in the play-off phase, the winners of which will face each other in eight ties. The top seven finishers of the tie winners, based on their league standings, will qualify directly for the World Cup, while the remaining winner will qualify for the inter-confederation play-offs.
Path one: The teams that finish second and third in the League A groups will play against the six group winners and the two second-best finishers from League C.
Way two: The fourth-placed teams in League A and the four group winners in League B will face each other in eight playoffs against the teams that finish second and third in the League B groups.
Advertisement
When is the 2027 World Cup?
The tournament will begin on June 24, 2027 and the final just over a month later, on July 25.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
England, Spain, international football, women’s football, FIFA Women’s World Cup
2025 The Athletic Media Company