With only one month to go until the Final Draw for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™, the procedures that will determine the pathway to glory in Brazil have been shared with the 18 qualified teams and those still in contention for a place at the tournament. They have also been published on FIFA.com and explained on social media via a creative collaboration with Brazilian artist Rafaella Tuma, which will be released later today.

On Friday, 11 December at 13:30 local time (17:30 CET), the final draw at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art (MAM) will bring representatives of the qualified teams together in Brazil for the first time, alongside legends of the game and high-profile guests. One day earlier, on Thursday, 10 December at 11:00 local time (15:00 CET), the draw for the final phase of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 Play-Off Tournament will determine the fixtures that will decide the last three places at Brazil 2027.

The final draw procedures stipulate that the hosts, Brazil, will be allocated to Pot 1 and automatically assigned to position A1, as confirmed in the match schedule published in August. As a result, the hosts will begin their campaign at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, 24 June, before playing their other two group-stage matches at the Arena Itaquera in São Paulo on Tuesday, 29 June and at the Estádio Nacional in Brasília on Sunday, 4 July.

The other 31 teams – the 28 teams that have qualified by the time of the draw and three placeholders for the play-off tournament – will be allocated across four pots of eight teams each, based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking that will be published on Monday, 7 December. The top seven qualified teams in the ranking will join Brazil in Pot 1. The next eight highest-ranked qualified teams will be placed in Pot 2, with the following eight teams allocated to Pot 3. Pot 4 will contain the last five qualified teams as well as three placeholders representing the winners of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 Play-Off Tournament, which will be played during the Women’s International Match Window from 23 February to 6 March 2027.

The draw will begin with hosts Brazil, represented by a different-coloured ball and automatically assigned to Group A as team A1. The remaining seven teams from Pot 1 will then be drawn and assigned to the subsequent groups, followed by all teams from pots 2, 3 and 4 in sequence. Each pot will be emptied before the next one is drawn. The draw will conclude once all teams from Pot 4 have been allocated to a group. Draw constraints

FIFA’s general principle, wherever possible, is to ensure that no group contains more than one team from the same confederation. This principle applies to all confederations except UEFA, which will be represented by 11 teams and could have as many as 12 representatives depending on the outcome of the play-off tournament. As a result, each group will contain at least one UEFA team and no more than two.

In addition, to ensure competitive balance and similarly to the FIFA World Cup 2026™, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established. The four highest-ranked teams in the most recent FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking published before the draw will be subject to additional constraints. The highest-ranked and second-highest-ranked teams will be drawn into groups on opposite pathways. The same principle will apply to the third- and fourth-highest-ranked teams. This measure will ensure that, should they win their respective groups, the two highest-ranked teams cannot meet before the final.

The detailed draw procedures, including the appendixes that determine the group positions, are available on FIFA.com.

Final match schedule

The match allocation process that follows the draw is designed to provide the best possible conditions for all participating teams while, where possible, enabling fans around the world to watch their teams play live across different time zones. As a result, the updated match schedule, including stadium allocations and kick-off times, will be confirmed in due course after the draw.

Play-off tournament

At the time of the final draw, the final three places at Brazil 2027 will still be up for grabs. The draw for the final phase of the play-off tournament is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 10 December 2026. The matches in the final phase will be played during the Women’s International Match Window from 23 February to 6 March 2027 and will consist of single-match ties, with the winner of each match securing one of the last three places at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027. The draw procedures for the play-off tournament are available on FIFA.com.

The preliminary phase of the play-off tournament will take place in Rabat, Morocco, from 28 November to 5 December 2026. Two teams from Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Ghana and Ecuador will advance from the preliminary phase and join the four teams that qualify directly for the final phase: two teams from Concacaf (TBC), Venezuela (CONMEBOL) and one team from UEFA (TBC).

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 will bring the world together across eight vibrant Host Cities in Brazil from 24 June to 25 July 2027. The tournament will mark the tenth edition of women’s football’s flagship event and the first to be held in South America.