In December Portugal’s national female team face a decisive moment in their history as they attempt to clinch their place in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Standing in their way is Iceland. A two-legged playoff against the Nordic nation will decide if Portugal women will be participating at their second World Cup next summer in Brazil or not.
Portugal women’s World Cup history
Portugal women have made tremendous strides in recent years, culminating in their maiden World Cup appearance in 2023.
In an arduous qualification campaign, the female Seleção finished second in their group behind two-times World Cup winners Germany. They then battled through two play-off rounds, beating Belgium and Iceland, before clinching their place in the tournament by beating Cameroon 2-1 in an intercontinental playoff.
At World Cup 2023, hosted in Australia and New Zealand, Portugal women can be proud of their performance.
After narrowly losing 1-0 to Netherlands, finalists in the previous World Cup, in the opening match, the female Seleção won their next game 2-0 against Vietnam.
Their most impressive display was yet to come though. In their last group game Portugal women held the reigning World Champions USA to a goalless draw and were a whisker away from victory and making progress to the knockout stages at America’s expense when Ana Capeta’s stoppage time shot bounced back off the post.
World Cup 2027 qualifying
Like in the previous tournament, Portugal women face a tough route to book their place at the Brazil World Cup as one of the 11 teams UEFA have been allocated at the tournament.
The qualifying process for the Seleção involves a group stage and two playoff rounds against European countries, and a potential additional intercontinental playoff.
The first two hurdles have been surpassed. The Seleção topped their group with five wins and one defeat, finishing above Finland on goal difference, who also accumulated 15 points.
Their first playoff opponent was Northern Ireland. A 4-0 win in the away leg made the home game a formality, which Portugal won 3-1 for a 7-1 aggregate victory.
Portugal will now play Iceland. Victory over the two legs should guarantee Portugal’s place in the tournament, although there is a possibility a further inter-confederation playoff will be needed, as per the qualifying regulations: The seven playoff round 2 winners with the best overall league phase rankings will qualify directly for the Women's World Cup, and the remaining playoff round 2 winner will advance to the inter-confederation playoffs.
Iceland
So next up for Portugal is Iceland, who served warning of their firepower by thrashing Croatia 9-0 on aggregate in their round one playoff.
In the group stage, Iceland played in the top tier, losing their four games against Spain and England but earning a place in the playoffs thanks to two victories versus Ukraine.
Iceland are currently ranked 16th in the world, compared to Portugal’s 24th place on the list.
Portugal women play the first leg of the playoff at home, in Guimarães on 1 December, with the second leg in Reykjavik on 5 December.
Portugal sweat on Kika Nazareth fitness
Portugal’s star player Kika Nazareth did not feature in the playoff matches against Northern Ireland. She was recovering from an injury in her right knee that kept her out of action for a month.
The good news is that the Barcelona playmaker was back in action for the Catalan outfit on the weekend, playing 75 minutes of Saturday’s 3-0 win over Granada.
Portugal coach Francisco Neto will receive a huge boost should Kika remain injury-free and work herself up to full fitness for the playoffs against Iceland. He will announce the squad on 12 November.
