The 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup qualifying draw has been announced, and we know who the Lionesses will play first

The countdown to the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup is now on, and we now know who England will face in the qualifying group.

The draw, which took place on 4 November, confirmed the teams that play each other in the initial qualifying stages of the tournament, which will take place from February 2026.

In group A3, England will face Spain, Iceland and Ukraine. This will include an exciting rematch against Spain after England’s win against them in the Euros final earlier this summer.

On being selected to play Spain, England manager Sarina Wiegman told the FA: “We seem to meet up all the time, either in tournaments or in draws such as the Nations League, and you can see both teams are very, very competitive and close – so here we go again.”

The rivalry between England and Spain’s women’s football teams has heated up over the past few years. Spain beat the Lionesses 1-0 at the World Cup final in 2023, but England beat them in the Euros final this summer, paving the way for an exciting qualifying match in 2026. 

“I think it’s an exciting group, and when we were drawn with Spain, you could tell in the room at the draw that it gave some excitement,” said Wiegman. “I think it’s also nice to play Iceland and Ukraine. We haven’t played them for a long time. Of course, they [Ukraine] got promoted to League A, which was very good for them, and it’s a team that we don’t know very well at the moment, but I find it nice to play a team that we don’t know yet, to have that challenge.

“Iceland, of course, had to play against Northern Ireland in the play-offs, which was a tough team to play. I haven’t played them with England, but they have some very good players in their squad too.”

Across the rest of the UK, Scotland will be facing Belgium, Israel and Luxembourg in group B4; Northern Ireland will face Switzerland, Turkey and Malta in Group B2; and Wales will play against the Czech Republic, Albania and Montenegro in Group B1.

The group stages consist of league A, which has 16 teams; league B, which has 16 teams and league C, which has 21 teams. Winners of each League A group will automatically get a place in the World Cup, while the other spots will come as a result of play-offs.

The qualifiers will take place between February and June 2026, while the play-offs will take place between June 2026 and February 2027. The World Cup will take place in Brazil on 24 June –25 July 2027. 

Image credits: Getty