With the women’s World Cup a year away, the top-ranked teams — Spain and the U.S. — have agreed to play a pair of heavyweight friendlies this fall.
Spain — the reigning world champion ranked No. 1 by FIFA — and the U.S. — the defending Olympic gold medalist positioned second — will clash Oct. 10 at Washington’s Audi Field and again three days later at Subaru Park in suburban Philadelphia, the federations announced Monday.
Both teams will use the friendlies to continue preparations for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. Spain has already qualified, while the U.S. will need only to defeat No. 78 El Salvador at the Concacaf W Championship in November in Greater Dallas to secure passage.
“Two more fantastic matches,” U.S. coach Emma Hayes said in a written statement. “We’ve desperately wanted to get Spain on our schedule, but the difficulties of scheduling the top teams during the women’s international calendar are well known, so to be able to get these two games on the East Coast will be the perfect tests before we head into World Cup qualifying at the end of the year.”
Tickets will go on sale to the general public Thursday.