There is a World Cup in 2026, but it is not the women’s tournament.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are hosting the men’s World Cup from 11 June to 19 July. The senior women’s competition follows a different calendar and will not return until the summer of 2027.
The answer therefore requires some clarification. The senior tournament Spain won in Australia and New Zealand will not be held in 2026, but the year will still feature two FIFA women’s youth World Cups.
Two Women’s World Cups before Brazil
The first will be the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, held in Poland from 5 to 27 September.
Twenty-four teams will take part, including Spain, with matches staged in Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Łódź and Sosnowiec.
The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will follow. Morocco will host the tournament from 17 October to 7 November, also with 24 participating teams.
Both are official FIFA World Cups, although they are reserved for youth national teams. The distinction matters: when people refer simply to the Women’s World Cup, they usually mean the senior international tournament.
Brazil 2027, the next senior World Cup
To see the world’s leading senior national teams together again, supporters will have to wait until 24 June 2027.
Brazil will host the tenth edition of the Women’s World Cup from that date until 25 July, becoming the first South American country to stage the tournament. Thirty-two teams will take part, with 64 matches spread across eight cities: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.
Spain have already secured their place.
The national team qualified directly on 9 June 2026 after finishing top of their European group. They will arrive in Brazil as the reigning world champions and, for the first time, defend the title they won in 2023.
There will therefore be no need to wait until 2027 to see women’s football on the world stage. Poland and Morocco will first host the two youth tournaments on the 2026 calendar. But Spain’s next senior World Cup — the one they will enter with a star above their crest — will take place in Brazil.