The Spanish women’s soccer team will face England, Iceland and Ukraine in Group 3 of League A, in the qualifying phase for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, in which the team coached by Sonia Bermúdez will defend, if they qualify, the title won in Australia two years ago.
The draw was held this Tuesday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon (Switzerland) and the qualifying phase will be played between February and June 2026, in a round-robin format. The first in the group qualifies directly for the World Cup, while the rest will have to face a play-off.
Chance once again brought about two new confrontations between Spain and England, in what will be the reissue of the final of the 2023 World Cup and the Euro 2025. The English and Spanish, in principle, should play in these duels for the direct ticket to the World Cup that is awarded to the group champion.
In addition, both teams also faced each other in the group stage of the last Nations League, in a group in which the team led by Montse Tomé at the time qualified for the semifinals of the competition.
Sarina Wiegman’s team is the last one to beat Spain, in the Nations League match played at Wembley (1-0) in February of this year. Then, Jessica Park’s solitary goal in the first half served to knock down the Spanish team. And in the Euro Cup final in July, the duel ended with an English victory in a penalty shootout to forget about the Spanish team.
The other two teams, both Ukraine and Iceland, are smaller teams and should not be a big obstacle for Sonia Bermúdez’s players. The last precedent against the Ukrainians dates precisely from the qualifying phase for the 2023 World Cup, where the team led by Jorge Vilda won with sufficient score, with scores of 0-6 in October 2021 and 5-0 in September 2022.
The Icelandic team, for its part, is the biggest unknown for Spain, since they have not faced each other for more than 8 years, in March 2017, in the Algarve Cup. The result was 0-0, although the growth that Spanish women’s football has experienced since that match is much greater than that of Iceland. In the last Euro Cup, the northern European team said goodbye in the group stage after losing its three games.
The dates of the matches will be March 3 and 7, April 14 and 18, and June 5 and 9, although the order of the matches has not yet been made official. UEFA has 11 direct places for the 2027 World Cup, so it is vital to qualify first and obtain the ticket directly, avoiding the play-offs.
If they finish in second or third place, they will have to compete in a ‘playoff’, known as route 1, in which they will face one of the six winners and the two best runners-up in League C. While if they finish fourth they will meet one of the eight teams that finish second or third in the groups of League B, in which will be route 2. These two playoffs will be held between October and December of next year, with the League A teams playing the matches of back at home.
The teams from both routes that pass these qualifying rounds will face each other and form a table of eight qualifying rounds, in which the winners of route 1 will be the seeds and will play the second leg at home.
The seven best-ranked route 2 playoff winners according to the overall league standings of the 2026 Women’s European Qualifiers will qualify directly for the World Cup. The remaining playoff selection from that route 2 will qualify for the inter-confederation playoff to be held in February 2027.
In addition to qualifying for the next World Cup, Spain will play its future in the next Nations League, which will begin in the 2027-29 competition cycle and will have an influence on the Euro Cup in 2029. If it finishes first, second or third, it will remain in League A. While if it finishes in fourth place it will be relegated to League B.