USWNT, seeking hostile territory, books June friendlies in Brazil ahead of 2027 World Cup

Aside from major tournaments, the U.S. women’s national soccer team does not play abroad very often. But with the World Cup in Brazil about a year away, coach Emma Hayes prioritized arranging friendlies for her second-ranked squad in the South American country as soon as possible.

They’ll come June 6 and 9 against No. 6 Brazil in the World Cup host cities of São Paulo and Fortaleza, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced Thursday.

“I’m so pleased we were able to schedule these games,” Hayes said. “We want to play the best teams in the most difficult environments at venues across the world as often as we can, and these two games check all those boxes. We need more games in which every fan in the stadium is cheering loudly against us, and I’m looking forward [to] seeing how our team performs and grows in these adverse conditions.”

The Americans have played 21 consecutive matches at home, a streak that began after visits to England and the Netherlands to end the 2024 schedule. They have not played in South America since the 2016 Rio Olympics and haven’t faced Brazil in Brazil since 2014.

Of the 43 meetings between the programs, six have been contested in Brazil.

The São Paulo match will take place at Neo Química Arena, the 49,000-seat home to famed club Corinthians. The Fortaleza test will come at 57,000-capacity Arena Castelão, which typically hosts two second-division clubs.

The other World Cup venues are in Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador.

The June 6 match is scheduled to kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET as part of a TV doubleheader on Warner Bros. Discovery and Telemundo platforms following coverage of the U.S. men’s final World Cup tuneup, against Germany in Chicago. Three days later, the same broadcast partners will carry the second women’s game, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.

As part of the broader vision for the women’s program, the USSF also has arranged multiple matches in Brazil for the under-23 squad against São Paulo clubs.

The most recent U.S.-Brazil senior clashes came in April 2025: a 2-0 U.S. win in Inglewood, California, and a 2-1 Brazil win in San Jose. In the summer of 2024, the Americans prevailed against Brazil in the Olympic gold-medal match in Paris, 1-0.

The U.S. leads the all-time series 34-4-5 but is 2-2-2 as the away team.

The Brazil trip is part of preparations for the eight-team CONCACAF W Championship, which doubles as the region’s World Cup qualifiers. The U.S., though, will need to win just one match to secure passage back to Brazil in 2027: against No. 78 El Salvador on Nov. 27 in Mansfield, Texas.

Even if they were the victims of a monumental upset, the Americans would have a secondary route to the World Cup through a series of playoffs.