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orywireEngland Women will enter the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup play-offs after finishing second behind Spain in their qualifying group. The draw will decide the Lionesses’ two-legged route towards Brazil.
By Emily CarterPublished 
England Women are in the World Cup play-offs after finishing second behind Spain in League A Group 3, despite winning five of their six qualifiers. The play-off draw takes place on Thursday 18 June, when the Lionesses will learn their first opponent and their possible route to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
UEFA says both play-off rounds will be drawn at 12:00 CET on Thursday 18 June. The draw will decide England’s first-round tie and also map out their possible second-round opponent if Sarina Wiegman’s side get through.
England Football says the draw will take place in Switzerland. UK broadcast or live-stream details for the draw have not yet been separately confirmed by the official sources checked.
England finished on 15 points in Group A3, level with Spain, but Spain topped the group and took the automatic qualifying place.
The decisive swing came in the head-to-head picture. England beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley in April, but then lost 4-0 in Mallorca in June. Spain followed that by beating Iceland 6-1, while England beat Ukraine 3-0 at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool.
UEFA has confirmed Spain as the Group A3 winners and England as one of the League A teams going into the play-offs.
England are seeded in Round 1 Path 1 because they finished second in a League A group. That means they will play a League C side over two legs, with the second leg at home.
UEFA lists England’s possible first-round opponents as:
The exact order of home and away matches, venues and kick-off times will be confirmed after the draw.
The first round is scheduled for 7–13 October 2026. If England win that two-legged tie, they move into the second round, which UEFA’s draw page lists for 26 November–5 December 2026.
There are 32 teams in the European play-offs. Round 1 is split into two paths, before the winners come together in Round 2.
The four League A group winners — Denmark, France, Germany and Spain — have already qualified directly for the World Cup. UEFA has 11 direct places at the finals, plus one place in the inter-confederation play-offs.
The seven best-ranked Round 2 play-off winners will qualify directly for the World Cup. The remaining Round 2 winner will go into the inter-confederation play-offs in February 2027.
England Football says the Lionesses would be in line to qualify directly if they win both play-off rounds, because of their overall qualifying ranking.
The next key date is the draw on 18 June. After that, fans should look for confirmation of England’s opponent, home and away venues, kick-off times, ticket details and any UK broadcast or streaming information.
The final tournament is scheduled to run from 24 June to 25 July 2027 in Brazil.
England face Croatia in their FIFA World Cup 2026 Group L opener on Wednesday, 17 June. Here is the UK kick-off time, TV channel, live stream and venue.
England’s World Cup 2026 Group L schedule is set, with fixtures against Croatia, Ghana and Panama. Here are the confirmed dates, UK kick-off times, venues and TV details.
England play Costa Rica at 9pm BST on Wednesday 10 June in Orlando, with the match listed live on ITV1. The friendly is England’s final World Cup warm-up before their Group L opener against Croatia.
