Football Ferns Could Play World Cup Qualifiers At Home

New Zealand will host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 Oceania Qualifiers semi-finals and final in April next year.

The Football Ferns will get home advantage if they make it beyond the group stages, as they try to qualify for a sixth World Cup in a row. Much like the All Whites did in March when they defeated New Caledonia in Auckland to secure a place at the men’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the US next year.

The women’s matches will take place between 7 to 18 April next year, with host cities still to be announced. The winner of the final will automatically qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil.

Prior to the finals, group games will be played in the February and March international window, in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, with the top two sides in each pool qualifying for the semi-finals.

New Zealand Football chief executive officer Andrew Pragnell said getting hosting rights was “significant”.

“Bringing our senior national teams home on a regular basis is a big priority for us as an organisation, so it is great to be able to confirm these very significant games will be played in Aotearoa.

“The game is in a great place right now at all levels, from community football, where numbers are exploding, to the professional level, with the introduction of Auckland FC and their rivalry with Wellington Phoenix, and of course at international level with the All Whites returning to the FIFA World Cup next year and, all going well, the Ferns doing the same in 2027.”

The 2027 World Cup will have 32 teams, the same as the 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand, which was the first to have 32 teams, up from 24 in the 2019 tournament hosted by France.

From the 2031 edition onwards it will be a 48-team World Cup with a 12-group format, increasing the total number of matches from 64 to 104 – the same as the expanded men’s World Cup in 2026 – and extending the tournament by one week.

Rnz.co.nz