For most of its history, the USWNT has arrived at the FIFA Women’s World Cup with great expectation, not uncertainty: In the past they’ve earned four titles, a runner-up finish, and a place in every edition of the tournament. But after the program’s earliest-ever World Cup exit in 2023 and an Olympic gold-medal rebound under head coach Emma Hayes in 2024, this cycle is less about restoring an old version of the US than defining the next one.

The United States has not yet qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027. Here’s where the USWNT stands on the road to 2027, the players to know, and what comes next.

Has USWNT qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027

Qualification status: Not yet qualified
Next World Cup qualifying match: US vs. El Salvador
Date: Nov. 27, 2026
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT
Location: Mansfield, Texas
What’s at stake: A win qualifies the United States directly for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

How can USWNT qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027?

For the US, the shortest route to Brazil is simple: Beat El Salvador.

If the USWNT wins its quarterfinal, it qualifies directly for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and advances to the Concacaf W Championship semifinals. If it loses, the US moves to the Dec. 2 Play-In. A win there would send the team to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-Off Tournament, where it would have another opportunity to qualify.

Before qualification begins, the US also has a pair of October friendlies against defending world champion and world No. 1 Spain: Oct. 10 in Washington, DC, and Oct. 13 in Chester, Pennsylvania. They won’t affect qualification, but as the Americans’ final matches before the Concacaf W Championship, they offer a useful test before the stakes become considerably higher.

USWNT players to know heading into 2027

No FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 roster has been announced, and plenty can change before next summer. But several players are already central to the USWNT’s current World Cup story.

Trinity Rodman

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Trinity Rodman has become one of the defining attacking players of this generation. She scored three times during the Americans’ run to Olympic gold in 2024, including the extra-time winner against Japan in the quarterfinals. Rodman is one-third of the attacking trio nicknamed “Triple Espresso,” alongside Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson.

Mallory Swanson scored the winning goal against Brazil in the 2024 Olympic final. After an extended absence from the national team, her return in 2026 reunited her with Rodman and Sophia Wilson, whose speed and movement helped make that front three so dangerous in Paris. Wilson scored three goals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, including the semifinal winner against Germany.

Naomi Girma 

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At the other end of the field, Naomi Girma has become one of the foundations of the US defense. The Chelsea center back was named US Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2023 and played a central role in the Olympic gold-medal run.

Lindsey Heaps

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Lindsey Heaps provides a direct link between generations: She was part of the 2019 World Cup-winning team and the 2024 Olympic champions. And players like young midfielder Lily Yohannes represent the other side of Hayes’s project — an increasingly broad pool of emerging talent competing to define what the next USWNT looks like.

The story to know about the USWNT heading into 2027

For decades, the extraordinary thing about the USWNT was its continuity. Across the first eight FIFA Women’s World Cups, the United States never finished worse than third. It won four of them.

Then came 2023.

Netflix’s Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team captured the team at that inflection point, following a group carrying the weight of its championship history while already confronting questions about what came next. The tournament supplied a definitive break: A penalty-shootout loss to Sweden in the Round of 16 produced the earliest World Cup exit in program history and made something clear. The next great US team could not simply be inherited from the last one.

The response came quickly, and Hayes officially took charge in 2024 and won Olympic gold in just her 10th match. Rodman, Swanson, and Wilson emerged as one of the tournament’s defining attacking combinations, while players like Girma helped give the team a new center of gravity. Hayes has continued to dramatically expand the player pool, introducing younger players, bringing established stars back into the fold, and creating competition for places rather than settling early on a finished team.

That leaves the US in a compelling place heading toward Brazil 2027: no longer rebuilding, but still defining what this generation of the USWNT will be. It has a championship-tested core, a coach who has already won a major tournament, and a growing group of players trying to establish exactly what this generation’s version of American soccer will look like.

U.S. captain Carla Overbeck lifts the FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy after the USWNT defeated China in a penalty shootout in the 1999 final at the Rose Bowl.

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USWNT FIFA Women’s World Cup history 

The United States has appeared at every FIFA Women’s World Cup since the tournament began in 1991 and remains its most successful nation.

World Cup titles: 1991, 1999, 2015, 2019
Runner-up: 2011
Most recent appearance: 2023
2023 result: Round of 16, the earliest exit in USWNT history
2027: Would be the team’s first Women’s World Cup under Emma Hayes

The contrast between the last two major tournaments is part of what makes this cycle so compelling: The US followed its worst World Cup finish with Olympic gold one year later. Now comes the test of what that resurgence looks like over an entire World Cup cycle.

How to watch FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 runs June 24 through July 25 in Brazil, with all 64 matches streaming live on Netflix in the United States and Canada.

US viewers will have access to English- and Spanish-language coverage. If the USWNT qualifies, this page will be updated after the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final Draw on Dec. 11 with its group, opponents, schedule, kickoff times, and viewing information.