The 2027 Women’s World Cup is closer than you think: Only four more international breaks remain before the tournament begins in Brazil. Which countries are the contenders? Who could be a surprise team to watch?
Enter our World Cup field rankings, powered by Opta’s new International Women’s Power Rankings, which offer a data-backed look at where every national team stands and where teams are trending.
So far, 18 teams have qualified for the 32 available spots in next summer’s World Cup. Another 31 teams remain alive for the final 14 berths.
World powers like the U.S. women’s national team and England are yet to officially qualify for the World Cup — either because the qualifying event is yet to happen (for the U.S.) or because they are in their continental playoffs after missing out on the first automatic berths (England).
Every team that is still eligible to compete in — and win — the 2027 Women’s World Cup is represented below.
How are Opta’s power rankings calculated?
The formula from Opta uses an Elo-based rating system to measure the strength of each team based on results and, when available, expected goals (xG).
Elo rating systems have been used in ranking systems across sports since Elo’s creation for chess player ratings, including in FIFA’s world rankings for both men and women internationally. In Opta’s system, after each game rating points are exchanged between teams depending on score, factoring the strength of the two teams and whether the game is at home or away for each team.
But Opta adds another layer of information with a metric they call “xG Enhanced Elo.” They use expected goals to generate probabilities for all plausible score outcomes based on the chances each team created in the game. The results are weighted by the probability of that score line, and the Elo is adjusted accordingly.
Opta’s algorithm analyzes over 260,000 women’s games since 2010 to assign a rating to each team, and updates as new games are played. Fresh off the October international break — which saw Spain beat and then draw the U.S. — we have Opta’s latest numbers.
The rankings below of World Cup-eligible teams are strictly based off Opta’s calculations, with our own commentary to provide perspective about placement. Each team’s rank is where they land among the field of teams still in contention for the 2027 World Cup.
Let’s get to ESPN’s World Cup field rankings, with the 49 teams still in contention.
49. Malawi (qualified)
First-time qualifiers Malawi are already the Cinderella story of the 2027 World Cup before it starts. Sisters Temwa Chawinga and Tabitha Chawinga carried the Scorchers (who might top the World Cup nicknames power rankings) to the WAFCON final, clinching a first-time World Cup berth and a runners-up finish in their debut at Africa’s biggest stage.
Malawi may be the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup, but nobody will want to see the Chawinga sisters running at them.
In Opta’s rankings of every team in the world, Malawi comes in at No. 75 of the 188 national teams, and they are the lowest-ranked team on our list of the 49 countries that are still in contention to win the World Cup next summer.
48. Algeria (qualified)
Cameroon are champions of Africa for the first time after defeating Malawi convincingly, 3-1 in the final in August. Midfielder Monique Ngock, 22, put her name on the globe’s radar by winning the best player in the tournament. She transferred to the NWSL‘s Washington Spirit a few weeks before the tournament.
In the quarterfinals, Cameroon eliminated 10-time African champions Nigeria, who then lost to South Africa in the play-in match to miss the World Cup for the first time. The changing of the guard in Africa is official.
Jamaica got out of a 2023 World Cup group with France and Brazil without conceding a single goal. They narrowly lost to Colombia in the round of 16 as the last team standing from the six Concacaf squads that made the tournament.
Khadija “Bunny” Shaw is one of the best forwards in the world, and Jamaica has other exciting, emerging talent like Solai Washington. Jamaica will qualify for a third straight World Cup with a victory over Costa Rica in the Concacaf quarterfinals on Nov. 27.
Haiti is loaded with talent, including Ballon d’Or nominee Melchie Dumornay. Now, Pia Sundhage is in charge to lead the team into the familiar territory of Concacaf qualifying next month.
Sundhage coached the U.S. women’s national team to Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 before coaching Sweden at the 2015 World Cup and Brazil at the 2023 edition, where they were bounced in the group stage (after a scoreless draw with Jamaica — it’s all comes back to Concacaf!). Sundhage most recently coached Switzerland at Euro 2025.
Haiti can qualify for a second straight World Cup and bring Sundhage back to the promised land with one victory over old foe Mexico. Of note, Mexico is the team that beat Sundhage’s U.S. side in 2010 Concacaf qualifying and forced the No. 1 ranked Americans to be the last team to qualify for the 2011 World Cup via a playoff.
36. Morocco (qualified)
Ever present but rarely threatening, New Zealand is back for a sixth straight World Cup after exiting in the group stage as the 2023 co-hosts.
Their performances in 2023 were respectable but disappointing given the home-field advantage. They have never made it out of the group stage in six previous World Cups and only won their first World Cup match in 2023 with a 1-0 victory over Norway in the opener.
Oceania’s qualifying tournament doesn’t offer any realistic barometer for a World Cup — although New Zealand only beat Papua New Guinea 1-0 in the OFC final in April. Recent New Zealand friendlies included a scoreless draw with Morocco and a 2-1 loss to Haiti in June.
Portugal is a team with promise that is still searching for consistency and a breakthrough at the world stage.
They came within a few inches of advancing out of the 2023 World Cup group stage at the expense of the USWNT, in what would have been the most shocking development in World Cup history, but a stoppage-time shot hit the post. They also beat the U.S. in a friendly last year.
Here lies an important reminder that European qualifying is complicated. It is an already long, drawn-out process, and even winning in the upcoming final round of playoffs doesn’t guarantee an automatic World Cup berth.
The eight winners of those two-leg series will be ranked according to their prior seeding, with the top seven winners qualifying for the World Cup and unlucky team No. 8 forced to fight for a berth in the intercontinental playoff next year.
Three of the matchups are between teams that both sit ahead of Portugal in the seeding, meaning Portugal can’t finish higher than the fourth-best team in Europe if they win. The same considerations apply to Scotland, Wales and Finland (all seeded below Portugal) if they pull off upsets.
Mexico laid the biggest egg in recent memory four years ago when they hosted World Cup qualifying and failed to get out of the group or qualify for the intercontinental playoff. They lost all three group games at home. Six of the eight teams from Concacaf’s final round of qualifying eventually made it to the 2023 World Cup.
Surely an improved Mexico side won’t falter again… right?
Haiti will be a tough test in the single-elimination quarterfinal. Haiti beat Mexico 3-0 in the previous qualifying tournament. The loser goes to a play-in game just to make it to the intercontinental playoff next year.
19. China (qualified)
Australia rode the wave of home crowds to their first semifinal appearance at the 2023 World Cup, despite forward Sam Kerr‘s injury concerns heading into the tournament. Now, can the Matildas sustain success?
That has been a challenge for a program that has always been a plucky quasi-contender with talented young players but without great depth in their player pool. Credit to them for a runners-up finish in qualifying (they lost 1-0 to Japan in the final) in the Women’s Asian Cup.
They lost 4-2 to Germany in an October Friendly before smashing Haiti 7-1 four days later.
Predictions that Italy could be the dark horse at the 2023 World Cup proved premature, but the Azzurre continue to be a difficult side to beat.
They drew with Sweden and Denmark (twice) in the previous stage of qualifying to make Europe’s playoff. Ten different players have scored during qualifying — nobody more than three goals — in a collective team effort. A dream run to the semifinals at last month’s U20 World Cup also offers hope for the future.
A victory over Finland in the upcoming two-leg playoff series will put Italy back in the World Cup for the third straight time thanks to their high seeding.
Guess who’s back?
North Korea last appeared in a senior Women’s World Cup in 2011, when five players tested positive for steroids. (North Korea memorably blamed the doping results on medicinal deer musk gland that the players consumed as a result of being struck by lightning.) FIFA fined the team $400,000 and banned them from the 2015 World Cup.
The team then fell short in 2019 qualifying, and disappeared ahead of the 2023 World Cup after withdrawing from international competitions due to the country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions. All the while, they’ve kept winning at the youth level: U20 World Cup titles in 2016 and 2024; U17 World Cup titles in 2016, 2024 and 2025 (and maybe another in the coming weeks).
The greatest mystery in soccer returns to the biggest global stage in 2027.
9. Denmark (qualified)
Brazil has asked a lot of “What if?” questions in the past as they have settled for second (or worse) at major tournaments. The first Women’s World Cup in South America is their best opportunity to lift the trophy.
Most of the program’s legends have long retired, but the status of Marta, who will be 41 when the tournament kicks off, is the story to watch of the tournament. Around her, head coach Arthur Elias has deepened the player pool and cultivated a legitimate contender with belief.
Brazil’s home crowd will be a bona fide 12th player, as they showed in recent hostile games against the U.S in June. However, one other big question came from that second June friendly, which the USWNT won 1-0, and saw Brazil issued a staggering eight red cards (four to staff, including Elias):
Can they handle the pressure?
6. Japan (qualified)
The 2011 World Cup champions have reinvented themselves as a team that can not only possess the ball and dominate possession, but also hold their own in a physical, transitional match when required.
The departure of coach Nils Nielsen in April, immediately after winning the Women’s Asian Cup, was bizarre. Japan lost two of three games to the USWNT in the weeks that followed and recently lost to Germany, 2-1.
A Nov. 28 home friendly against Brazil will be another major litmus test for Japan.
5. France (qualified)
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Hamilton: English FA will be hugely relieved with Wiegman’s extension
No, England has not yet qualified for the World Cup.
After beating Spain 1-0 at Wembley in April during UEFA qualifying, England lost in a rematch 4-0 on the final matchday in June to be forced into the playoffs.
Their opponent in the second round of the playoffs is Ukraine, who England beat easily twice in the group stage. The task looks simple for Sarina Wiegman’s side, but there are bigger questions about their readiness for the World Cup if and when they qualify.
Wiegman’s in-tournament management has paid off at Euros and World Cups, but she has some tough decisions to make, particularly around how to utilize some of her veteran players next summer.
3. Germany (qualified)
The USWNT lost 2-0 to Spain earlier this month and clawed back from 2-0 down for a 2-2 draw in the rematch three days later.
The gaps in efficiency and depth between the two teams were readily apparent as Spain finished their opportunities early in both games. The Americans were especially wasteful in an otherwise encouraging performance in the opening match.
The absences of defender Naomi Girma and midfielder Sam Coffey loomed large for the U.S. in those games. Can the U.S. win a World Cup without Girma to anchor the back line — especially with uncertainty in the goalkeeper position?
The talent is clear in this group, but the timing is tricky to make it all come together — especially if the bracket shapes up so must get through reigning world champions Spain. The Americans avoided Spain in their run to a 2024 Olympic gold medal.
1. Spain (qualified)
Spain came to the United States and ostensibly played their biggest challenger to a World Cup repeat without Mariona Caldentey, Clà udia Pina, Mapi León, Cata Coll, or three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana BonmatÃ… and they walked away with a win and a draw.
Spain’s decade of developing this generation of players and a clear identity cannot be replicated quickly (or maybe at all) by others, and La Roja proved again why their system is superior no matter who they put on the field.
The World Cup champions are still the undisputed team to beat.
