Infantino made the announcement on Thursday at the 49th UEFA Congress in Belgrade, Serbia. Should a compliant bid be submitted by the end of 2025, this will pave the way for the UK to host the Women’s World Cup for the first time. The U.S. last hosted in 2003, having previously done so four years earlier, while Mexico has never staged games.
The Football Associations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland announced in March they would be submitting a collective expression of interest to host the 2035 tournament, seemingly leaving the U.S. and Mexico as the sole bidders for 2031.
U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Soccer Federation announced last April their intention to lodge a joint bid for the 2031 tournament. The two federations withdrew their bid for the 2027 World Cup to instead focus on 2031.
At March’s FIFA council meeting, football’s international governing body had invited federations affiliated to UEFA or the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to bid for the 2035 tournament. Reports in Spain had suggested Spain, Morocco and Portugal were planning to launch a rival bid for 2035. The three federations will jointly host the men’s competition in 2030.
reported in March that the U.S.-Mexico bid was exploring staging matches in Costa Rica and Jamaica. Sources familiar with discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated early-stage conversations about hosting a limited amount of fixtures in the two CONCACAF countries had taken place.
“We are honoured to be the sole bidder for the FIFA women’s World Cup 2035,” English FA CEO Mark Bullingham said. “Hosting the first FIFA World Cup since 1966 with our home nations partners will be very special. The hard work starts now, to put together the best possible bid by the end of the year
Infantio added: “Today, I can also confirm that as part of the bidding process, we received one bid for ’31 and one bid — valid bid, I should add — for ’35. 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, in some great nations, to boost even more the women’s football movement.”
Member associations will be required to formally submit their bids to FIFA in the final quarter of this year.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
US Women's national team, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Soccer, Sports Business, UK Women's Football, Women's World Cup
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