Brazil already has the venue that will open and close the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro will host the tournament’s opening match and final, two of the most important games in a competition that will bring together 32 teams between June 24 and July 25. With a capacity of 78,838 spectators, the stadium will host Brazil’s Group A opener and, 31 days later, the match that will crown the new world champions.
FIFA has published the full schedule of 64 matches, distributed across eight stadiums that were already used during the 2014 men’s World Cup. The tournament will be held in eight Brazilian cities, bringing women’s football to venues steeped in history. Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo will host the semifinals, while the São Paulo capital will also stage the third-place match. The final tournament draw will take place once the qualification playoff process has advanced enough to determine the final teams.
Maracanã to open and close a World Cup with history
The choice of the Maracanã adds a special dimension to the tournament. The stadium has already hosted two finals of the men’s World Cup, in 1950 and 2014, as well as the finals of the Olympic football tournaments in 2016. Now, the venue will once again host a decisive match on the global stage, this time as part of a women’s competition entering its tenth official edition. The first chapter will be written on June 24, when Brazil plays its Group A match there, while the final will take place on July 25.
The tournament route will also take the teams to other stadiums linked to important moments in Brazilian football. Belo Horizonte, for example, will host a quarterfinal, 12 years after it was the scene of Brazil’s historic 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinals of the 2014 men’s World Cup. Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo will host the other three quarterfinals, distributing the matches that will determine the four semifinalists across different regions of the country.
São Paulo to host the most matches
The Arena Itaquera in São Paulo will play a particularly important role in the tournament structure. The stadium will host 10 matches, more than any other host city, and will also stage Brazil’s group-stage games. The hosts will complete this first stage of the tournament with a match at the Estádio Nacional de Brasília, while São Paulo will also have the privilege of hosting one of the semifinals and the third-place match.
The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be the second consecutive edition with 32 teams, following the expansion introduced in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, a tournament in which Spain won its first world title after defeating England in the final. Porto Alegre and Recife complete the list of host cities alongside Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and Fortaleza. The distribution means all 64 matches will be played at venues already familiar with the scale of a World Cup, but which will now become part of a new chapter for international women’s football.
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