The Women’s World Cup is set to expand from 32 to 48 countries after the proposal was approved at a meeting of the FIFA Council.
The approval from the decision-making arm of FIFA, world football’s governing body, has been confirmed to The Athletic by sources with knowledge of Friday’s meeting. The Athletic reported in December that FIFA was considering the idea.
The expansion of the Women’s World Cup is set to come in for the 2031 tournament, which the United States is hosting. It was most recently increased from 24 teams to 32 in July 2019, following the tournament in France that year, with this coming into effect for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which was won by Spain.
The move will bring the women’s tournament in line with its men’s equivalent, which was expanded to 48 nations for its 2026 edition in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. There have been controversial calls to expand that further, to 64 teams, for 2030.
The 32-team 2027 Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Brazil, with the tournament running from June 24 to July 25.
Last month, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that the U.S. and the United Kingdom are the sole respective bidders for the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups.
U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Soccer Federation announced in…
