World Cup qualification play-offs for Lionesses explained

Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses concluded their qualifying campaign for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 on Tuesday night with a 3-0 home victory against Ukraine at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, but despite the victory and five wins from six matches they will go into the play-off rounds to compete for a place at next summer’s tournament in Brazil.

The Lionesses’ 4-0 defeat to Spain on Friday evening meant their hosts leapfrogged them in the table via a superior head-to-head record and goal difference. Spain confirmed top spot in Group A3 and their automatic qualification for the World Cup with a 6-1 win against Iceland .

England finished in second place to earn a place as a seeded team in the play-offs, above Iceland (six points) and Ukraine (zero points).

Here is how the play-offs will work.

How does FIFA Women's World Cup qualification work?

UEFA has been allocated eleven places in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027. One additional team may qualify through FIFA's intercontinental play-offs.
 
The four winners from the qualifying groups in League A secured direct qualification for the World Cup, including Spain.

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

Round 1
 
Round 1 of the play-offs will take place over two legs in October, and it's split into two paths. England are in Path 1, where the four second-placed teams in League A and four third-placed teams of League A will play against the six first-places teams and two best-ranked second-placed teams of League C.
 
So the Lionesses' potential opponents in the draw on Thursday 18 June are: Hungary, Belarus, Romania, Greece, Croatia, Kosovo, Lithuania and Kazakhstan.
 
Path 2 in Round 1 of the play-offs sees the four fourth-placed teams of League A and four first-placed teams of League B playing against the four second-placed teams and four third-placed teams of League B.
 
Round 2
 
In Round 2 of the play-offs, the winners of the Path 1 ties will be seeded and play against the winners of the Path 2 ties. So England would be seeded if they advance to this stage. The potential ties, again over two legs (home and away), will be identified in next Thursday's draw.

England would have home advantage in the second leg in both stages of the play-offs if they progress.

The seven best-ranked Round 2 play-off winners according to the 2026 European Qualifiers overall league rankings, which would include the Lionesses, will qualify directly for the World Cup. The one remaining Round 2 play-off winner will qualify for the World Cup intercontinental play-offs.
 
Should England advance to this stage, their potential opponents would be: Belgium, Portugal, Finland, Scotland, Switzerland, Poland, Wales, Czechia, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Türkiye, Northern Ireland, Israel, Albania.
 
The key play-off dates

UEFA play-off round 1 and round 2 draw: 18 June 2026
UEFA play-off round 1 (2 legs): 7–13 October 2026
UEFA play-off round 2 (2 legs): 26 November–5 December 2026