Women's World Cup 2027

Swindon_Addick · March 18

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

Swindon_Addick · March 18

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)

Swindon_Addick · March 19

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.

Swindon_Addick · April 11

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.

Swindon_Addick · April 14

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.

Swindon_Addick · April 15

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.

Swindon_Addick · April 18

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.

Swindon_Addick · April 24

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 Haiti

Swindon_Addick · June 1

The fifth of the six sets of UEFA qualifiers is on Friday. England are in Spain, needing a draw. Ireland are at home to Netherlands. Wales go to Montenegro, NI are in Turkey and Scotland play the first of two games against Israel behind closed doors in Hungary. The final batch of games are on Tuesday 9th.

Swindon_Addick · June 2

The two rounds of fixtures over this coming weekend also wrap up the South America qualifiers. Two countries qualify (it will be Argentina and Columbia) and two go to the playoffs.

Once the UEFA games are done, we'll have 4 qualifiers and 32 in the playoffs. The playoffs reduce to 16 teams over 2 legs in October, then to 8 in the November/December window. The winner with the lowest ranking gets a slot in the playoffs, where they'll be a heavy favourite, the other 7 get direct qualification.

Swindon_Addick · June 6

A bad night for both England and Wales, England now highly unlikely to get the direct qualification slot while Wales need to beat Czechia in Cardiff having been offered a golden opportunity to only need a draw if they'd beaten Montenegro last night.

A truly great result for Ireland, though, a home win against the Netherlands meaning they're safe in the top seeded group for the playoffs and can actually still grab direct qualification if they somehow win in France on Tuesday.

Scotland also strengthened their position, hammering Israel 6-0. the same score Belgium managed against Luxembourg. If they can keep the goal swing to 3 of less on Tuesday they should get the slot among the second seeds which should mean a slightly easier tie in the first round of the playoffs. Northern Ireland lost but kept enough respectability that they're still on track to avoid relegation.

England and Ireland are guaranteed to be in the first seeded group but can still qualify direct. Scotland and Wales are guaranteed third but can reach second. NI are definitely in the third.

We had our first UEFA qualifier as Germany beat Norway to seal their group. Later, the two South America slots were sealed with Argentina and Colombia doing just enough. The playoff slots there will probably go to Venezuela and Ecuador but that's not mathematically confirmed yet.

9 Germany
10 Argentina
11 Colombia

Swindon_Addick · June 9

While everyone was getting ready to watch England, two of the 4 top-tier groups had 6pm kickoffs. Germany were already there and Denmark could only be caught if they lost. Which they didn't.

12 Denmark

Swindon_Addick · June 9

Massive wind for both Wales and Scotland who secure places among the second seeds That means having finished top of their groups they will face someone who was second or third at the same level, before the final against one of the top seeds. Northern Ireland avoided a hammering and neither of the two who could overtaken them managed the point they needed, so NI who were already one of the third seeds add staying up in tier B to their achievements.

England's opponents in the event of Iceland not scoring 5 times in the last few minutes will be a group C team, Lithuania, Kosovo, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Belarus, Croatia, Kazakhstan. None of those should cause any issues, so it should come down to which second or third seed England get in the final round.

Swindon_Addick · June 9

A good win for England but Spain hammered Iceland, shortly after which France finished 1-0 winners over Ireland. So:

13 Spain
14 France

Swindon_Addick · June 9

By my maths, the third seeds who Wales and Scotland might draw are: Czechia, Türkiye, Finland, Belgium, Albania, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Israel. The first 4 of those could cause problems, especially Belgium, the other 4 are likely to struggle.

MuttleyCAFC · June 10

I think England should get through and it might actually work out for us having genuinely competitive games. BUT. The team has gone backwards a bit for me. I thought yesterday there were too many easy passes in attacking positions where players let somebody else do it. It was clear you had to take a couple of players on the way Ukraine were defending to open things up and we have the capabilities to do this. Lauren James has the ability but she seems to have an aimlessness about her play. Maybe she should be playing in another position like a free role upfront. She looks unplayable but also often just peters out. With her ability we have to make her work.

Spain just went for us and caught us on the hop I suspect in the game prior to Ukraine. But it was evident when they pressed, some of our players were passing to somebody else rather than looking for positive passes. Maybe if you have an outlet like James with a free role with Russo, who is a very intelligent player, you can look to get the ball forward. For one of the goals we were being pressed and lost the ball from a pass, I forget who it was, where there was actually no intent to look forwards. So backwards and sideways were the only options and neither were going to help against an aggressive press. I think it has to be taught to the players that passes have to be positive and not to give the problem of creating something, of getting out of something to somebody else! If you do that it is like rolling a dice until the wrong number comes up!

The growing strength of the WSL should mean we get stronger which may take a few years. Also new players have to find their role. So the future is bright, i'm sure, though we may be a few years off it yet.

fenaddick · June 10

MuttleyCAFC said:

I think England should get through and it might actually work out for us having genuinely competitive games. BUT. The team has gone backwards a bit for me. I thought yesterday there were too many easy passes in attacking positions where players let somebody else do it. It was clear you had to take a couple of players on the way Ukraine were defending to open things up and we have the capabilities to do this. Lauren James has the ability but she seems to have an aimlessness about her play. Maybe she should be playing in another position like a free role upfront. She looks unplayable but also often just peters out. With her ability we have to make her work.

Spain just went for us and caught us on the hop I suspect in the game prior to Ukraine. But it was evident when they pressed, some of our players were passing to somebody else rather than looking for positive passes. Maybe if you have an outlet like James with a free role with Russo, who is a very intelligent player, you can look to get the ball forward. For one of the goals we were being pressed and lost the ball from a pass, I forget who it was, where there was actually no intent to look forwards. So backwards and sideways were the only options and neither were going to help against an aggressive press. I think it has to be taught to the players that passes have to be positive and not to give the problem of creating something, of getting out of something to somebody else! If you do that it is like rolling a dice until the wrong number comes up!

The growing strength of the WSL should mean we get stronger which may take a few years. Also new players have to find their role. So the future is bright, i'm sure, though we may be a few years off it yet.

Agree with a lot of that but the growth of the WSL will bring in more and more foreign imports. There will be a balancing act, as with the men's game, in terms of how that strengthens the national team (and those of Wales, Scotland and NI)

Garrymanilow · June 10

I think there is going to be a bit of a dip with our national team as the schedule gets more and more packed. We've got players who have been used to having much lighter schedules playing more and more games as the demands from the money men go up and we've already seen the increase in injuries that's brought upon the players. The women's game still has so much adapting to do in terms of how it recognises the strain on the players' bodies, alters training strategies and timing to suit women rather than copying the men's game exactly as they currently do and helps players adapt to a pretty insane change in focus and match load compared to what they have been used to. Last night the players looked pretty jaded, like a team who knew they would win and didn't have that extra bit of dynamism to push through a weak team and put them to the sword. I don't really blame them.

There's also fewer players making their debut who have come through academies as the search for immediate quality along with higher spending budgets is leading teams to look abroad for talent, The WSL is growing in quality but there's fewer English players breaking through. English teenagers played 846 minutes this season in the WSL compared to Spain giving 1,624 minutes to theirs and Germany 1,750 to theirs. Only 25% of the players in the WSL this season are English whereas it was 44.6% in 21/22. At West Ham English players played on 7% of the available minutes which is ridiculous. We've got a national team full of players who have been around a while who are going to be creaking as the stupid poorly balanced schedule tears their bodies up and fewer and fewer young English players coming through to take their place. You can't even loan to the WSL2 like you used to because teams down there are signing internationals for hundreds of thousands rather than relying on cultivating the next big thing from a big club. Loaning lower than that is often loaning to an amateur club, certainly having your players go up against a much lower standard than you'd like every week. I think we're going to have to go through a period of seeing our national team drift a bit before the authorities make some changes that they should really be thinking about now

MuttleyCAFC · June 10

Garrymanilow said:

I think there is going to be a bit of a dip with our national team as the schedule gets more and more packed. We've got players who have been used to having much lighter schedules playing more and more games as the demands from the money men go up and we've already seen the increase in injuries that's brought upon the players. The women's game still has so much adapting to do in terms of how it recognises the strain on the players' bodies, alters training strategies and timing to suit women rather than copying the men's game exactly as they currently do and helps players adapt to a pretty insane change in focus and match load compared to what they have been used to. Last night the players looked pretty jaded, like a team who knew they would win and didn't have that extra bit of dynamism to push through a weak team and put them to the sword. I don't really blame them.

There's also fewer players making their debut who have come through academies as the search for immediate quality along with higher spending budgets is leading teams to look abroad for talent, The WSL is growing in quality but there's fewer English players breaking through. English teenagers played 846 minutes this season in the WSL compared to Spain giving 1,624 minutes to theirs and Germany 1,750 to theirs. Only 25% of the players in the WSL this season are English whereas it was 44.6% in 21/22. At West Ham English players played on 7% of the available minutes which is ridiculous. We've got a national team full of players who have been around a while who are going to be creaking as the stupid poorly balanced schedule tears their bodies up and fewer and fewer young English players coming through to take their place. You can't even loan to the WSL2 like you used to because teams down there are signing internationals for hundreds of thousands rather than relying on cultivating the next big thing from a big club. Loaning lower than that is often loaning to an amateur club, certainly having your players go up against a much lower standard than you'd like every week. I think we're going to have to go through a period of seeing our national team drift a bit before the authorities make some changes that they should really be thinking about now

To counter that, we have more and more girls playing football and you would imagine more money goes into Academies. We need to see how it develops but the game is growing and the performances of the national team pushes that growth so you would hope clubs see it in their best interests to nuture new heroes for the fans who will be a key part of it all.

What I would also say is when you see stand out talents use the advantage of being able to play them with the boys. The best players need to be pushed rather than just dribble past opponents for fun. It makes them better players. I am guessing but I think the attributes Lauren James has may be down to her brothers and playing with them and the bad habits may be playing against girls not at her level.

I believe that with boys. If you get a lad who's advantage is physical and it is too easy at their age group, they should be playing with higher age groups. They will improve more that way. Winning things at a young age and using them as cheat codes is not important and ultimately doesn't help them get better. They pick up bad habits because it is too easy.

Garrymanilow · June 10

MuttleyCAFC said:

Garrymanilow said:

I think there is going to be a bit of a dip with our national team as the schedule gets more and more packed. We've got players who have been used to having much lighter schedules playing more and more games as the demands from the money men go up and we've already seen the increase in injuries that's brought upon the players. The women's game still has so much adapting to do in terms of how it recognises the strain on the players' bodies, alters training strategies and timing to suit women rather than copying the men's game exactly as they currently do and helps players adapt to a pretty insane change in focus and match load compared to what they have been used to. Last night the players looked pretty jaded, like a team who knew they would win and didn't have that extra bit of dynamism to push through a weak team and put them to the sword. I don't really blame them.

There's also fewer players making their debut who have come through academies as the search for immediate quality along with higher spending budgets is leading teams to look abroad for talent, The WSL is growing in quality but there's fewer English players breaking through. English teenagers played 846 minutes this season in the WSL compared to Spain giving 1,624 minutes to theirs and Germany 1,750 to theirs. Only 25% of the players in the WSL this season are English whereas it was 44.6% in 21/22. At West Ham English players played on 7% of the available minutes which is ridiculous. We've got a national team full of players who have been around a while who are going to be creaking as the stupid poorly balanced schedule tears their bodies up and fewer and fewer young English players coming through to take their place. You can't even loan to the WSL2 like you used to because teams down there are signing internationals for hundreds of thousands rather than relying on cultivating the next big thing from a big club. Loaning lower than that is often loaning to an amateur club, certainly having your players go up against a much lower standard than you'd like every week. I think we're going to have to go through a period of seeing our national team drift a bit before the authorities make some changes that they should really be thinking about now

To counter that, we have more and more girls playing football and you would imagine more money goes into Academies. We need to see how it develops but the game is growing and the performances of the national team pushes that growth so you would hope clubs see it in their best interests to nuture new heroes for the fans who will be a key part of it all.

What I would also say is when you see stand out talents use the advantage of being able to play them with the boys. The best players need to be pushed rather than just dribble past opponents for fun. It makes them better players. I am guessing but I think the attributes Lauren James has may be down to her brothers and playing with them and the bad habits may be playing against girls not at her level.

I believe that with boys. If you get a lad who's advantage is physical and it is too easy at their age group, they should be playing with higher age groups. They will improve more that way. Winning things at a young age and using them as cheat codes is not important and ultimately doesn't help them get better. They pick up bad habits because it is too easy.

That's not what's being borne out though. Players are being sent to far flung places abroad like Mexico on loans or finding themselves having to leave their club to get playing time. Sometimes that works out for the player - Freya Godfrey has done well enough at Not Millwall, though Keira Barry hasn't seen many minutes since leaving Man Utd - but teams are far more interested in bringing in the players who are ready now or foreign teenagers instead of developing their own players. Arsenal signed 19 year old Smilla Holmberg to develop rather than giving their own players minutes. It happens, and it will likely be offset in a way soon given that there's been approval for four WSL sides to have their academy teams playing in the third division from 2027, though all that will do is concentrate the better youth players in those four academies and not necessarily provide them with a better pathway than they have now. Brian Sorensen has talked about how with the growth of the league there's much more pressure on managers and so much less scope in the few games they have to blood younger players and keep their jobs; how do you give a player 10 games to make mistakes and learn when there's only 22 league games? It's no surprise the teams who play the most young English players are the ones who by midseason are safe from relegation and safe from troubling the top end of the table; Villa give a lot of minutes to their younger players and every season are bang average without ever worrying one way or the other. Clubs don't care about developing heroes, they care about making sure they get the biggest slice of the pie possible and I think that will have a knock on effect on the national team until someone does something

MrOneLung · June 10

Brazil 0-1 USA: Brazil players and staff shown eight red cards in friendly against Emma Hayes' side - BBC Sport

Swindon_Addick · June 10

The BBC are saying that the draw for the knock-out rounds for UEFA will be on Thursday 18 June, with the first round (England vs a minnow) home and away during the October international window and the finals (England vs a competent but weaker team such as Scotland or Wales) home and away during the November/December window.

Women's World Cup 2027

Comments

Categories