Maracanã confirmed as venue for 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup final

Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã will host the final of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will feature 64 matches across eight Brazilian cities. The tournament is scheduled to run from 24 June to 25 July, with the venue also set to stage the opening match involving Brazil.

The stadium is one of eight venues selected for the competition, alongside grounds in Brasília, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza and São Paulo. The schedule was confirmed during the release of the full match programme for Brazil’s tournament.

Maracanã will become only the third stadium to host both a men’s FIFA World Cup final and a Women’s World Cup final. The other two are the former Råsunda Stadium in Sweden, which hosted finals in 1958 and 1995, and the Rose Bowl in the United States, which staged the 1994 and 1999 finals.

Opened in 1950, Maracanã hosted the deciding match of that year’s men’s World Cup, when Uruguay defeated Brazil 2-1. The stadium’s capacity is now 73,139 after seating replaced terraced areas and renovation work followed the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It previously recorded attendances of at least 150,000 on 26 occasions and crowds above 100,000 284 times.

South Africa’s route to the tournament remains unresolved. Banyana Banyana have been drawn with Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan and Ecuador in the preliminary-stage play-offs scheduled for November, while Ghana and Papua New Guinea make up the other two teams in that phase. The top two sides will advance to the final play-off phase in Brazil in February next year.

That final phase will include two CONCACAF teams, Venezuela from CONMEBOL, one UEFA representative and the two qualifiers from the preliminary stage. The 32-team tournament will therefore carry particular significance for Banyana Banyana, who are seeking to secure another World Cup appearance.