2031 FIFA Women's World Cup

Last updated

2031 FIFA Women's World Cup
Copa Mundial Femenina de la FIFA 2031
Tournament details
Host countriesMexico
United States
DatesTBD
Teams48 (from 6 confederations)
← 2027
2035 →

The 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the 11th edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's soccer championship contested by the national teams that represent the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be the first to involve 48 national teams, including that of the host nation.

Contents

The main hosts will be Mexico and the United States with other CONCACAF members possibly hosting games as well, which will be the third FIFA Women's World Cup the United States will host after 1999 and 2003. The latter host, which was originally China, was moved because of the SARS outbreak there. The United States already hosted the men's 1994 FIFA World Cup and is set to co-host the men's 2026 FIFA World Cup with Mexico and Canada. The country has also hosted the Copa América Centenario in 2016, the 2024 Copa América, and every CONCACAF Gold Cup. This will be the first time Mexico will host the FIFA Women's World Cup, thus becoming the seventh country—after Sweden, the United States, Germany, France, Canada, and Brazil—to host both the men's and women's World Cup, having hosted the former in 1970, 1986, and 2026.

Host selection

The host nation for the 2031 Women's World Cup is scheduled to be decided officially by the 76th FIFA Congress on April 30, 2026 in Vancouver, two years after the host selection for the 2027 edition. [1] [2] On March 5, 2025, the FIFA Council approved the bid regulations which restricted bids to CONCACAF and CAF members. [3] The key dates include: [4]

On April 3, 2025, FIFA announced that the United States bid was the only valid bid with other CONCACAF nations eligible to host games. [6] The United States bid had been announced alongside Mexico and had explored a limited number of matches in Costa Rica and Jamaica. Mexico later joined the United States as hosts on May 27, 2025. [7]

Format

The expansion of Women's World Cup from 32 to 48 teams comes with the success of 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, where the number of participants was increased from 24 to 32 teams. [8] [9] The rapid growth of women's soccer in the 2020s led to the potential expansion following suit with the men's World Cup. [10] During the March 5, 2025, FIFA Council meeting, FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated that the tournament would possibly be expanded to 48 teams depending on decisions made in the lead-up to the host selection.[ citation needed ] On April 3, 2025, the tournament was expanded to 48 teams starting from the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup and it was confirmed one month later on May 9, 2025. [8] [9] [11]

This will be the first FIFA Women's World Cup to include 48 teams, an increase from 32 teams, mirroring the expansion of Men's World Cup since 2026. The teams will be split in 12 groups of 4 teams, with the top two of each group and the eight best third-placed teams progressing to a new round of 32. The total number of games played will increase from 64 to 104, and the maximum number of games played by teams reaching the final will increase from seven to eight.

Venues

In its hosting requirements document, FIFA stipulated that the 32-team competition will have a minimum of eight stadiums—of which at least five were existing venues. The stadiums would have minimum seating capacities of 20,000 for most matches, 40,000 for semifinal matches, and 65,000 for the opening match and final. [12] However, additional changes will be made to accommodate the expansion to 48.

In the United States, several regions have shown interest to host including Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, New York/New Jersey, and the San Francisco Bay Area, with bidding set to begin in fall 2025. [13] Out of these cities, all but two will host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The builders of the New Commanders Stadium in Washington, D.C., have specifically targeted completion of their facility as to be eligible as a host venue. [14]

Teams

Qualification

FIFA's confederations organize their own qualifying competitions, with the exception of CAF and CONCACAF, which qualify teams through continental championships.[ further explanation needed ] The hosts Mexico and the United States qualified automatically for the tournament, leaving most of the remaining FIFA member associations eligible to enter qualification if they chose to do so.[ further explanation needed ]

Qualified teams

TeamQualified asQualification dateAppearance
in finals		Last
appearance		Consecutive
streak		Previous best performance
Flag of the United States.svg  United States Co-hostsApril 3, 2025 [a] 10th/11th 2023/2027 1/11Champions (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019)
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico May 27, 2025 [b] 4th/5th 2015/2027 1/2Group stage (1999, 2011, 2015)

Marketing

Broadcasting

Notes

  1. ↑ On April 3, 2025, FIFA announced that the United States bid was the only valid bid. However, the official host will be officially appointed on April 30, 2026.
  2. ↑ It was revealed that Mexico joined the United States as co-hosts on May 27, 2025. However, the official host will be officially appointed on April 30, 2026.

References

  1. ↑ "FIFA Council endorsed international match calendar principles and competitions". FIFA+. FIFA. December 16, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  2. ↑ "FIFA Council highlights record breaking revenue in football". FIFA. February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  3. ↑ "FIFA Council approves unprecedented prize money pot for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 and takes key decisions on women's competitions". Inside FIFA.
  4. ↑ "FIFA Women's World Cup 2031 and FIFA Women's World Cup 2035 Overview of the Bidding Processes" (PDF). FIFA . March 5, 2025. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  5. ↑ Davidson, Neil (May 15, 2025). "Vancouver selected to host FIFA Congress ahead of 2026 Men's World Cup". CBC Sports . The Canadian Press . Retrieved May 16, 2025.
  6. ↑ Kearns, Sean (April 3, 2025). "UK set to host 2035 Women's World Cup as only 'valid' bid". BBC Sport. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  7. ↑ Slater, Matt; Rampling, Ali (April 3, 2025). "FIFA confirms U.S.-Mexico, UK as sole bidders for 2031, 2035 Women's World Cups" . The Athletic . Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  8. 1 2 Keogh, Emily (April 3, 2025). "Infantino: USA set to host 2031 Women's World Cup, UK gets 2035". ESPN . Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  9. 1 2 "FIFA Council takes landmark decisions on the future of the FIFA Women's World Cup and on the fight against racism". Inside FIFA. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
  10. ↑ Sheldon, Dan; Linehan, Meg (December 4, 2024). "FIFA exploring Women's World Cup 48-team expansion" . The Athletic. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  11. ↑ Drury, Sam (May 9, 2025). "Women's World Cup to be expanded to 48 teams from 2031". BBC Sport. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
  12. ↑ "FIFA Women's World Cup 2031 Overview of Hosting Requirements" (PDF). FIFA. March 6, 2025. p. 4. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Potential host cities talk 2031 Women's World Cup after U.S. Soccer initiates selection process". The Athletic. June 13, 2025.
  14. ↑ Aldridge, David (September 17, 2025). "D.C. Council approves $3.8 billion Commanders stadium project". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Canada, get ready to watch the FIFA Women's World Cup exclusively on Netflix ⚽️ English and French language broadcasts of the 2027 and 2031 tournaments are on their way!". Netflix Canada. Twitter. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  16. ↑ "FIFA and Netflix sign historic broadcast deal for 2027 and 2031 editions of FIFA Women's World Cup". FIFA. December 20, 2024. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
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