Women's European Qualifiers for 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup: League stage guide

The league stage of the Women's European Qualifiers kicks off on Tuesday 3 March, with four direct spots at the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil to be decided by the league's conclusion on 9 June and 32 slots in the autumn play-offs also on offer.

In all, UEFA has 11 berths in the 32-team finals, plus one additional spot in the inter-confederation play-offs early next year. For this phase of qualifying, the 53 teams are split into three leagues, set by the 2025 UEFA Women's Nations League: 16 teams in each of Leagues A and B, and 21 in League C.

The winners of the four League A groups will qualify directly for the finals, with the other 12 teams going into the play-offs. The top three teams in each of the four League B groups also enter the play-offs along with the six group winners and two best runners-up in League C.

In all groups, which were drawn in November 2025, teams are also competing for promotion and relegation ahead of the next edition of the UEFA Women's Nations League.

WOMEN'S EUROPEAN QUALIFIERS LEAGUE STAGE GROUPS

LEAGUE A

GROUP A1: SWEDEN, ITALY, DENMARK, SERBIA

Sweden, Italy and Denmark were also drawn together in the same group for the 2025 Women's Nations League and ended up separated by just three points. First-placed Sweden picked up three wins and one draw from their four games against those opponents, and also beat Denmark 1-0 at UEFA Women's EURO 2025. They will be seeking to maintain their record of qualifying for every World Cup, picking up bronze medals at the last two editions.

While Sweden, Italy and Denmark were all at the 2023 World Cup and Women's EURO 2025 (where the Azzurre narrowly missed the final), Serbia have never reached a major tournament. They are making their League A debut, having won promotion from League B ahead of Finland in the Nations League phase when they conceded just one goal.

Opening matches:

Tuesday 3 March

Italy vs Sweden 
Denmark vs Serbia 

Saturday 7 March

Italy vs Denmark 
Serbia vs Sweden 

GROUP A2: FRANCE, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

This group matches two regular contenders for major honours in France and the Netherlands with two teams newly promoted back to League A, Poland and Ireland. France and the Netherlands face off twice in April with Nations League bronze-medallists Les Bleues hoping that their 5-2 defeat of the Dutch at Women's EURO 2025 is a good omen.

In qualifying for last summer's tournament, France topped a group that included Republic of Ireland, who beat France at home in their final qualifier having lost away to them on Matchday 1. An impressive 5-4 aggregate victory against Belgium in October earned promotion for Republic of Ireland, who made their major tournament debut at the 2023 World Cup, while Poland made their own such bow at Women's EURO 2025, powered up front by Barcelona's prolific Ewa Pajor.

Opening matches:

Tuesday 3 March

Poland vs Netherlands 
Republic of Ireland vs France 

Saturday 7 March

France vs Poland 
Netherlands vs Republic of Ireland 

GROUP A3: SPAIN, ENGLAND, ICELAND, UKRAINE

The two sides that contested the Women's EURO 2025 final will rekindle their rivalry, with Spain and England facing each other on Matchdays 3 and 5. Will Spain repeat their successes from the 2023 World Cup final and the 2025 Nations League group decider? Or will England produce another victorious display after beating Spain on penalties to retain their Women's EURO title and winning last year's home Nations League encounter played at Wembley?

Iceland, regulars in Women's EURO final tournaments, have never reached a World Cup and not faced any of their group opponents competitively in more than a decade. Ukraine are making their League A debut after showing encouraging form in 2025.

Opening matches:

Tuesday 3 March

Spain vs Iceland 
Ukraine vs England

Saturday 7 March

Ukraine vs Spain 
England vs Iceland 

GROUP A4: GERMANY, NORWAY, AUSTRIA, SLOVENIA

Germany's runs to the Women's EURO semi-finals and Nations League final last year, despite a number of injuries to key players, suggest they could be ready to end a run without a major tournament title since the 2016 Olympics. Like Germany, Norway are former World Cup champions and have qualified for every past edition, while also having a promising 2025 despite a dramatic late Women's EURO quarter-final exit to Italy.

Austria missed out on Women's EURO 2025 and only just avoided relegation to League B in their play-off with Czechia. They have also suffered five competitive losses to Germany since 2022 but did pick up four points against Norway in the 2023/24 Women's Nations League. Following a stunning rise through the leagues, Slovenia are in League A for the first time after two consecutive promotions since playing the last Women's European Qualifiers in League C.

Opening matches:

Tuesday 3 March

Austria vs Norway 
Germany vs Slovenia 

Saturday 7 March

Norway vs Germany 
Slovenia vs Austria 

LEAGUE B

Among the teams looking to earn one of the 12 play-off spots (as well as aiming to win their groups and earn promotion) are Portugal, who played at the 2023 World Cup. Portugal also qualified for Women's EURO 2025 via play-offs from League B along with Wales, while Belgium, Finland and Switzerland were also at last summer's tournament – the latter reaching the quarter-finals as hosts. Northern Ireland and Scotland also have recent major tournament experience.

Latvia, Luxembourg and Montenegro, meanwhile, are all in League B for the first time following their promotions alongside Israel, Malta and Slovakia.

LEAGUE C

There are eight play-off spots on offer, for the six group winners and best-performing runners-up. Belarus, Georgia, Greece and Romania were among the eight teams that reached the Women's EURO 2025 play-offs from League C, while Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Hungary also were in those play-offs but competed in League B in that cycle.

Also among the eight that made the play-offs from League C two years ago (while also earning promotion as group winners, which is again on offer) were Slovenia, whose current League A status shows the potential within the current UEFA women's national team competition system.

HOW DOES FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION WORK?

UEFA has been allocated 11 places in the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. One additional team may qualify through FIFA's intercontinental play-offs.

At the end of the league phase, group standings and overall league rankings will determine:

Direct qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup 

The four League A group winners.

Qualification and seeding for the European Qualifier play-offs for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. 

Round 1 of the play-offs is played in two paths as follows:

Path 1: The four second-placed teams and four third-placed teams of League A play against the six first-placed teams and two best-ranked second-placed teams of League C.

Path 2: The four fourth-placed teams of League A and four first-placed teams of League B play against the four second-placed teams and four third-placed teams of League B.

In round 1 of the play-offs, the ties are determined by means of a draw.

Path 1: The eight League A teams are seeded and play their second-leg matches at home.

Path 2: The four fourth-placed teams from League A and four first-placed teams from League B are seeded and play their second leg matches at home.

The winners of the round 1 play-offs qualify for the round 2 play-offs.

In round 2 of the play-offs, the ties are determined by means of a draw. The round 1 path 1 ties are seeded for the round 2 draw and the winners of those ties play the round 2 second leg match at home.

The seven best-ranked round 2 play-off winners according to the 2026 Women’s European Qualifiers overall league rankings qualify directly for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The one remaining round 2 play-off winner qualifies for the FIFA Women’s World Cup intercontinental play-offs.