Women's World Cup 2027
Lots of Charlton players are with countries that have a respectable chance of qualifying so perhaps it's worth giving this its own thread rather than distracting from the main women's team thread.
Qualifying is complicated as most federations try to set things up to avoid too many 20-0 games, recognising that some countries are at very early stages of developing the women's game. So. Deep breath, here we go.
The 32 countries are 11 UEFA, 6 Asia, 4 Africa, 4 N. America, 3 S. America, 1 Oceania and 3 playoff slots. The hosts are Brazil who get the usual automatic slot leaving only 2 for the rest of CONMEBOL. The relative numbers are quite different to the men's game, reflecting different historical strengths.
Asia is qualifying via the Asian championships in Australia at present. The semi-finalists of this competition all qualify, the losing quarter-finalists enter playoffs where the winners qualify and the losers go into the intercontinental playoffs.
UEFA is using the Nations League which runs over the last international window and the next two. The four winners of Group A groups qualify, then there are two rounds of play-offs for which 32 of the remaining countries qualify by group position. The 8 play-off winners have their rankings compared and the lowest ranked goes to the intercontinental play-off while the other 7 qualify. England and Ireland are in group A and have a chance of qualifying without the playoffs.
African qualification will be determined at the 2026 Cup Of Nations. The 4 semi-finalists will qualify, the losing quarter-finalists play off with the playoff winners going into the intercontinental playoffs. The torment is currently due to be in Morocco 25 July to 16 August having been postponed due to Morocco sulking about the men's tournament result. Now they've been bribed to go ahead, erm, justly awarded the men's trophy on appeal, the women's tournament may happen. Senegal's position on whether it's worth turning up is unknown.
CONCACAF qualification is via the continental championship in November. This is straight knockout with 8 teams chasing 4 slots. Again, losing quarter-finalists get a playoff for a place in the intercontinental playoffs. The finalists and one of the losing semi-finalists also get places in the next Olympics, so no pressure...
CONMEBOL join UEFA in having a stand-alone qualifying tournament. Being CONMEBOL, it's a 9-team all play all league, with the top 2 qualifying and third and fourth into the playoffs. Brazil aren't involved because there wouldn't be any point. It's already under way, the next games in the April window. The crucial final 2 rounds of matches are on 5 and 9 June.
Oceania also has its own tournament. There was a league phase crammed into a single window 27 Feb, 2 March and 5 March, then the final round is in April. The winner qualifies and the losing finalist goes to the intercontinental playoffs.
The intercontinental playoffs start in November & December, then the final qualifiers are 3 ties in February 2027 to determine the 3 who go through. The UEFA representative gets a bye to this final stage. The rest of it is kind of complicated - if you're really interested, make a strong cup of coffee and head over to the Wikipedia page.
Qualifiers to date are the hosts and 4 of the 6 direct AFC slots:
1 Brazil
2 Australia
3 China
4 South Korea
5 Japan
Comments
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UEFA which is the bit we're interested in have played 2 of 6 games each. The next window in April and the June window will finish things off. So far, England are going OK for automatic qualification but haven't played Spain yet which will be the decider. Scotland are going well and look good for the second of the 4 seeding pots for the playoffs. Ireland likely to be pot 2 rather than 1. Wales will be in 2 or 3 depending mainly on 1 remaining game against the Czechs. Northern Ireland have home and away games against Malta to probably decide between pot 3 or not making the playoffs at all.The remaining 2 Asian slots are decided on 19 March:Uzbekistan v Philippines (1am GMT)North Korea v Chinese Taipei (7am GMT)0
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Uzbekistan 0 - 2 Philippines
Chinese Taipei 0 - 4 North Korea
6 Philippines
7 North Korea
Unless anyone in UEFA or CONMEBOL gets ridiculously far in front during their April matches, the only qualification resolved during the next window should be the Oceania slot. If that's not New Zealand it will be one of the biggest shocks in the history of football.0 -
Oceania played a round of semi-finals today, resulting in a final on Wednesday morning, I think 8am our time but please don't trust my limited grasp of time zones if you want to watch it. New Zealand v Papua New Guinea in Auckland. The winner qualifies, the loser goes to the playoffs.
The other rounds of games in the first half of this window are in North America on Monday and in Europe and South America on Tuesday. All of these are group games which can't lead directly to qualification.
The games for the 5 UK and Ireland sides on Tuesday are:
England v Spain (Wembley)
Scotland v Belgium (Edinburgh (Easter Road))
Wales v Albania (Wrexham)
Northern Ireland v Malta (Lurgan)
Poland v Ireland (Gdansk)
England and Spain are effectively playing over 2 legs for who gets the automatic slot and who goes into the top seeded group for the playoffs, as neither are likely to drop points in their other games. NI and Malta are similar, except that one gets a playoff and the other goes out, with neither likely to gain any other points. Scotland, Wales and Ireland are basically just playing for which seeding group they go into.1 -
The games tonight went brilliantly for the 4 UK sides and Ireland. England's win over Spain puts them in the driving seat; a draw in Mallorca on 5 June should be enough for automatic qualification. Ireland's win in Poland leaves them in with a decent shout of being in the top seeding group for the playoffs, for which they need to finish ahead of Poland. A draw at home on Saturday would do it. Wales won comfortably, but not by enough to get in front of Czechia on GD. Realistically they need to win on 9 June for the second seeding group rather than the third. Northern Ireland beat Malta comfortably and a draw in the away game should see them into the third seeding group and Malta out. A big win would make relegation in the Nations League less likely so no chance to relax. Scotland drew against Belgium which leaves them top of the group and in the second seeding, but they need to draw away on Saturday to retain top spot on GD.
The games for the 5 UK and Ireland sides on Saturday are:
Iceland v England (Rejkjavik)
Belgium v Scotland (Leuven)
Albania v Wales (Elbasan)
Malta v Northern Ireland (Ta' Qali)
Ireland v Poland (Aviva Stadium (rugby ground))
New Zealand play Papua New Guinea tomorrow morning: winner qualifies, loser goes into the playoffs.
CONCACAF qualification ends this coming weekend. USA and Canada are through automatically to an 8-team final tournament that selects 4 qualifiers and 2 playoffs. Jamaica are assured of joining them barring a freak set of results.1 -
Superb performance by Papua New Guinea to keep their game with New Zealand close, but a single goal on 55 minutes sends New Zealand through and PNG to the playoffs.
1 Brazil
2 Australia
3 China
4 South Korea
5 Japan
6 Philippines
7 North Korea
8 New Zealand
Playoffs so far: Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Papua New Guinea.0 -
Another good round of group matches leaves everyone well-placed prior to the final 2 rounds of matches in June. England are guaranteed a place in the top-seeded pot for the playoffs at the very worst, and if they can at least draw the crucial away game in Spain should get automatic qualification instead. Ireland are all but mathematically guaranteed a slot in the top seeds after beating Poland again. Wales' win puts them significantly behind Czechia on GD so realistically they need to beat them in the home game to get into the seeded pot 2 rather than the unseeded pot 3. Scotland drew and are currently top of their group, which would mean pot 2, but Belgium have easier opposition in June so are likely to overtake. Northern Ireland have confirmed they will be in pot 3 and now need to focus on protecting their GD to avoid being relegated to the third level for the next Nations League. They've put themselves in a strong position for that.1
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CONCACAF draw for the quarter finals of their continental championship, which double as World Cup qualifiers. Winners qualify, losers play off with 2 of them going to the intercontinental playoffs.
27 Nov:
USA v El Salvador, Jamaica v Costa Rica
28 Nov:
Canada v Panama, Mexico v Haiti0
