FIFA announced on 20 October 2026 that Rabat, Morocco, will host the preliminary phase of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 Play-Off Tournament from 28 November to 5 December 2026. According to FIFA’s tournament announcement, the eight-day competition at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Sale, near central Rabat, will feature six national teams: Chinese Taipei, Ecuador, Ghana, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and Uzbekistan.
Finishing at the top of the table in Morocco will not directly qualify a team for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. Instead, the Rabat tournament is the first stage of a two-part inter-confederation play-off system that awards the final three places at the World Cup.
How the two-stage play-off works
Under FIFA’s play-off format guide, all six countries in Rabat are placed into a single league table. Across nine total matches, each team plays three fixtures against pre-selected opponents from other confederations. Teams from the same confederation cannot face each other, so African qualifiers South Africa and Ghana will not meet, nor will Asian representatives Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan.
Teams earn three points for a win and one point for a draw, with head-to-head records and overall goal difference used as the primary tiebreakers. When the preliminary phase ends on 5 December, only the first-place and second-place teams will advance.
Those two qualifiers move into the final play-off phase, which takes place from 23 February to 6 March 2027. Four other nations enter directly at that final stage: South America’s third-place finisher Venezuela, one European team from the UEFA play-offs, and two qualifiers from the CONCACAF W Championship play-in matches.
The final phase splits the six contenders into three single-match knockout pathways. The three highest-ranked teams in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking are seeded, leaving the two qualifiers from Rabat unseeded. Each survivor from Morocco must win a one-off knockout final against a seeded opponent, with extra time and penalties if needed, to claim a spot in Brazil.
What is at stake for the six nations
South Africa and Ghana both return to familiar pitches in Morocco after winning play-in matches at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in August. South Africa reached the play-offs by beating Nigeria 2-1 in Casablanca, ending the nine-time African champions’ streak of qualifying for every Women’s World Cup. Speaking to the South African Football Association after that win, head coach Dr. Desiree Ellis praised her players’ resolve and said, “The dream is still alive.”
Ghana beat Côte d’Ivoire through a penalty from forward Josephine Bonsu to stay in contention for a first World Cup appearance since 2007. Bonsu told FIFA that her squad will take every play-off rival seriously because every team earned its place in the tournament.
Chinese Taipei enters Rabat as the highest-ranked team at 40th in the June 2026 world rankings and is chasing its first World Cup berth since 1991. Ecuador, ranked 61st after finishing fourth in South American qualifying under head coach Eva Espejo, is aiming for its first appearance since 2015.
Meanwhile, Oceania runner-up Papua New Guinea and Pot 1 seed Uzbekistan are each seeking their first Women’s World Cup qualification, with Uzbekistan having already played two October friendlies against Morocco in Rabat to prepare.
Following the 20 August draw in Zurich, the tournament opens on 28 November with three matches: Uzbekistan against Papua New Guinea, Chinese Taipei against South Africa, and Ghana against Ecuador. FIFA has sent the match calendar to the competing federations, while exact kick-off times, ticket access, and broadcast details remain to be publicly confirmed.
Leave a Reply