The 2026 men’s World Cup is in the books. Spain has become the first nation to boast back-to-back women’s and men’s champions. And now, the countdown is on for FIFA’s next big event as the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil is less than a year away.While the road to Canada, Mexico and the United States hosting in 2026 wasn’t smooth, when the first 48-team tournament got underway, the sheer brilliance of the soccer, the legends, the underdogs and the bombast of the fans still took center stage.How does FIFA keep the momentum rolling?The next hosts, Brazil, will have their work cut out for them to match the record-breaking stadium attendance (1,978,274 in total) that we saw in Australia and New Zealand during the 2023 Women’s World Cup. With next summer’s tournament staying in the Americas, there is also a much more appealing time zone to capitalize on when it comes to broadcast figures in North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.The 10th edition of the Women’s World Cup will, for just the second time, be a 32-team affair. Fourteen nations, including the hosts, have already booked their spots — Spain among them, too.That leaves 18 spots still up for grabs, with 15 of those to be confirmed come the end of the year. The final three places will be determined by the results of the inter-confederation playoffs in February 2027.Here is The Athletic’s guide to how things stand in the qualification process. This article will continue to be updated until all 32 teams are confirmed.The USWNT has qualified for every Women’s World Cup since its inception. (Justin Setterfield / Getty Images)How many teams from each confederation qualify for the World Cup?FIFA is split into six confederations. Each one represents a different soccer region of the globe and has been allocated a different number of places at the 2027 World Cup, as well as berths for the inter-confederation playoffs.AFC (Asia): Six direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.CAF (Africa): Four direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.Concacaf (North America, Central America & Caribbean): Four direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.CONMEBOL (South America): Two direct places and two teams will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs. Hosts Brazil qualify automatically.OFC (Oceania): One direct place and one team will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.UEFA (Europe): 11 direct places and one team will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs.Australia hosts the Asian Cup with a chance at a World Cup spot on the line. (Will Russell / Getty Images)How do teams qualify?AFC: The initial qualification has finished. Six teams have qualified automatically via their results at the 2027 Asian Cup, while two teams, Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei, will head to the intercontinental play-off next year.CAF: The 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, held from July 25 until August 16, will decide which teams qualify from Africa.The tournament was originally set to start March 17; however, less than two weeks before, it was postponed “to ensure the success of this important women’s competition, in the light of certain unforeseen circumstances,” according to the confederation. The new dates fall a week after the men’s World Cup final on July 19 and three weeks into the second half of the 2026 National Women’s Soccer League season, which restarts after a summer pause on July 3.Sixteen teams enter the competition at the group stage, with eight moving onto the quarterfinals. The four winning teams from the quarterfinals will qualify for the 2027 World Cup. The four losing quarterfinalists will face off, with the winning two teams snapping up the two spots at the inter-confederation playoff.Concacaf: Twenty-nine teams began the preliminary group stage of Concacaf qualifying in November 2025. The first stage consists of five groups of five teams and one group of four. The first stage will conclude in April 2026 after each team has played the rest of their group once.The six group winners will then advance to the Concacaf W Championship, to be held in a centralized location in November 2026. The United States and Canada have already received a bye based on FIFA rankings, so they will join the six group winners.The eight teams at the Concacaf W Championship will be seeded by FIFA ranking and then play each other in a single-elimination quarterfinal bracket. The four quarterfinal winners will qualify for the World Cup. The four losing quarterfinalists face off to decide the two spots available for the inter-confederation playoff.CONMEBOL: For the first time, the South American teams are using a league phase to decide World Cup qualifying. It is being contested between October 2025 and June 2026. Nine teams will face each other once, four home and four away, across eight matchdays to decide the league. The top two finishers will qualify for the 2027 World Cup, with the third and fourth-placed teams heading to the inter-confederation playoff.OFC: New Zealand beat Papua New Guinea 1-0 in the OFC final, qualifying for the World Cup. Papua New Guinea will get a spot at the inter-confederation playoff.Spain heads into qualifying as the reigning World Cup champions. (Franck Fife / Getty Images)UEFA: Europe opted for a Nations League format to decide the first round of qualifying, with 53 nations split into leagues A (16 teams), B (16 teams) and C (21 teams), and then divided into groups of four or three within those leagues. The league stage began on March 3 and concluded on June 9.Germany, Denmark, reigning World Cup champions Spain and France qualified by finishing atop their groups. The other 12 teams from League A, including England, are heading into the playoff phase of UEFA qualifying. The top three teams in each of the four League B groups also advance to the playoff phase, along with the six group winners and two best runners-up in League C.In total, 32 teams will enter the playoff phase of UEFA qualifying. There will then be a seeded draw to decide the matches in round one and round two of the UEFA playoff phase, to be held October 7-13 and November 26-December 5.The UEFA playoff phases will see teams play two-legged elimination matches, with the higher seed at home in the second leg. Once the field has been whittled down from 32 to 16, and then from 16 to eight, the seven highest-ranked teams remaining will qualify for the World Cup. The lowest-ranked team that won both of its ties in the UEFA playoff phase will take the final spot at the inter-confederation playoff.Inter-confederation playoff:First phase: