Ukraine women to face England at Wembley in World Cup play-off on 5 December

Ukraine's women's national team will play England at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 5 December in a play-off for a place at the 2027 Women's World Cup, the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) announced on 15 October.

Kick-off is at 17:30 local time, which is 19:30 in Kyiv, according to the federation's post on Telegram.

One match still to be scheduled

The UAF said the other match of the tie will be played at what it called Ukraine's "nominal home" ground. The date and venue will be announced later. The federation's wording, "the first match", suggests Wembley will stage the return leg, although it did not say so explicitly.

The post did not say how the tie will be decided, and it gave no information on ticketing or on the squad.

Background

The 2027 Women's World Cup is due to be held in Brazil. It will be the first edition of the tournament in South America. Europe's remaining places are being decided through qualifying and play-offs run by UEFA, the continent's governing body.

Wembley is England's national stadium and one of the largest football venues in Europe, with a capacity of about 90,000. The England women's team has played there in major finals, including the Euro 2022 final, which it won.

The term "nominal home" is used when a team is formally designated as the host of a match, but it may not be played in the team's own country. Ukrainian national teams and clubs have regularly played home fixtures abroad since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. The UAF has not yet said where the first match will be held.

RealUA has not previously covered this qualifying campaign, and the source post does not say how the two teams reached the play-off.

What happens next

The UAF is expected to confirm the date and venue of the other game in due course. The Wembley match on 5 December is the only fixture with a confirmed time and place so far.