The top two teams in women’s soccer will meet in a pair of friendlies this fall, with the United States hosting Spain in Washington DC on 10 October and Chester, Pennsylvania three days later.
The meeting pits the 2024 Olympic gold medalist United States against a Spain side who won the 2023 women’s World Cup. It will serve as a benchmark for both sides in the run-up to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
The friendlies will also serve as a crucial tune-up for the US ahead of the Concacaf W Championship in late November, which doubles as the World Cup qualifying process for the Concacaf region. Spain have already qualified for the 2027 tournament
The US were last in action in June for two friendlies in Brazil against the World Cup hosts. The US split the two games, losing 2-1 with all three goals coming in the first 15 minutes, then winning 1-0 on 9 June in a bad-tempered match in which eight red cards were issued, most after the final whistle.
Spain tore their way through World Cup qualifying, finishing with five wins and one loss (a 1-0 result against England) in their group, to go with a plus-18 goal difference. The defending champions boast several of the world’s best players, including Alexia Putellas, who recently completed a move to London City Lionesses, and Aitana Bonmatí, who was named The Best women’s player by Fifa and won the Ballon d’Or in each of the past three years.
This will be the second and third all-time meetings between the sides in the US, with the only previous match coming in the 2020 SheBelieves Cup, a 1-0 win for the US. It will be the 18th and 19th time the US women play a game involving the No 1 and 2-ranked teams in the world. The US are undefeated in all of those previous matchups.
