The 2026-27 women's football season has begun to take shape, with qualifying rounds for the Champions League and the Women's Africa Cup of Nations already under way, marking the start of a packed calendar that will run all the way through to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
Africa's continental showpiece, the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, is being staged between 24 July and 16 August 2026, providing an early highlight before domestic competitions in England swing into action. The preliminary round of the Women's FA Cup gets going on 23 August, with qualifying rounds following through September and October before the tournament proper begins with the first round on 25 October. The FA Cup's later stages are spread across the winter and spring, with the fourth round on 17 January, the fifth round on 21 February, quarter-finals on 21 March, semi-finals on 11 April and the final scheduled for 15 May 2027.
On the league front, both the Women's Super League and Women's Super League 2 will kick off their campaigns on Friday, 4 September 2026. Both divisions will pause for a winter break running from 21 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. The WSL's regular season is due to conclude on 22 May 2027, with a promotion/relegation play-off pencilled in for 29 or 30 May. WSL2 will wrap up its regular season slightly earlier, on 8 or 9 May, followed by a play-off pre-qualifying match on 22 or 23 May and the promotion/relegation play-off on the same weekend as the top flight's.
Alongside the league and FA Cup, English clubs will also contest the Subway Players Cup, also known as the League Cup, which begins its league phase on 23 September 2026 and continues through fixtures in late September, October, November and December, with some rounds reserved specifically for WSL2 clubs. The competition then moves into its knockout stages, with quarter-finals set for 13/14 January 2027, semi-finals for 10/11 February, and the final on 13 or 14 March 2027.
European club football will also be prominent throughout the campaign. Following the completion of the third qualifying round in late August and early September, the Champions League league phase draw takes place on 4 September, with the first of six league phase matchdays starting on 22-23 September and running through to 16 December 2026. The competition resumes in the new year with knockout phase play-offs in early February, before quarter-finals in late March, semi-finals in early May, and the final scheduled for the last weekend of May 2027 — 28, 29 or 30 May.
International football will punctuate the club season at regular intervals, with breaks scheduled in October, November/December, February/March and April, offering national teams valuable preparation time. The final send-off before the marquee event of the season comes with a June international break from 7-15 June 2027, immediately preceding the Women's World Cup in Brazil, which runs from 24 June to 27 July 2027.
The extensive schedule reflects the continued growth of the women's game, with domestic, cup and continental competitions dovetailing around the international calendar in the buildup to football's biggest stage. Manchester City enter the new season as reigning WSL and Women's FA Cup champions after a domestic double in 2025-26, setting the tone for what promises to be a highly competitive year across all fronts.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.