The prospect of the best women’s club sides on the planet meeting in a competitive tournament has taken a big step forward with FIFA aiming for an inaugural Women’s Club World Cup in 2026.
Advocates of the women’s game have been talking about a global competition for over a decade and FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he wanted to stage one “as soon as possible” as far back as 2019.
But the next significant milestone came in December 2022, when a FIFA Council meeting in Qatar approved the launch of women’s versions of the Futsal World Cup and Club World Cup.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Infantino said the details would be decided after “consultation with the relevant stakeholders”, adding that concerns about “players’ health and well-being” would be a “primary goal”. He also said there would be no further changes to the game’s calendar until 2025, at the earliest.
Those stakeholders are football’s six confederations — the regional bodies that govern the sport in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, Oceania and South America — and the talks soon became a case of UEFA, the European confederation, versus the rest of the world.
The sticking point has been FIFA and the five non-European confederations wanting an annual Women’s…
