The United States and UK are likely to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031 and 2035 respectively, the organization’s president Gianni Infantino said Thursday at the FIFA Congress in Belgrade. Plans still need to be confirmed and can’t be finalized until members agree with a vote at the 2026 Congress to be held alongside the Men’s World Cup in North America.
“As part of the bidding process, we received one bid for ’31 and one bid, valid bid, I should add for ’35,” Infantino said.
“The ’31 bid is from the United States of America and potentially some other Concacaf members together and the ’35 bid is from Europe from the Home Nations so the path is there for the Women’s World Cup to be taking place in ’31 and ’35 in some great countries and some great nations to boost even more the women’s football movement.”
The United States had been campaigning jointly with Mexico but Infantino suggested that maybe other members of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) could be involved. The UK’s bid includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Missing from the 2035 race was a joint Spain, Portugal and Morocco bid that had been discussed as recently as last week, mirroring the hosts of the 2030 Men’s edition. The UK has never hosted the Women’s World Cup.
The United States already hosted the tournament twice, back-to-back in 1999 and 2003.
The lack of bidders reducing the competitive process is not surprising considering FIFA’s continental rotation strategies. Only members from Concacaf and Africa were eligible for ’31 while those in Europe and Africa were considered for ’35.
FIFA has also announced that the number of teams could be increased from the current 32 to 48, following the new model set by the men’s tournament starting in 2026. That decision will be made at the next Congress and could trigger the need to add other Concacaf members to the 2031 tournament.
Bid teams will now attend workshops and observer programs as they prepare formal submissions due near the end of the year. FIFA will conduct site inspection next February before publishing an evaluation report the following May.
The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be held in Brazil
Infantino also announced possible changes to the Olympics football tournament, with the intention to increase the women’s teams from 12 to 16 and reverse the men’s field from 16 to 12 – addressing both the needs for gender parity and the strict athlete quota imposed by the IOC. Plans must be approved by the IOC and could be implemented at the LA 2028 Games.
