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FIFA makes U.S. heavy favorite to host 2031 Women's World Cup

henry bushnell
Senior reporter
·7-min read

In a dense Wednesday press release detailing a raft of decisions with wide-ranging implications for global soccer, FIFA did not, by name, mention the United States. But, with a single sentence, it made the U.S. a heavy favorite to host the 2031 Women's World Cup, possibly alongside Mexico.

FIFA, world soccer's governing body, said in the release that only nations from Africa and CONCACAF, the region encompassing North and Central America, would be eligible to bid for the 2031 tournament.

The U.S. Soccer Federation has repeatedly, and increasingly, said it will do just that.

"As soon as [FIFA opens the bidding], we'll put our bid in," U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in January at a coaches convention in Chicago. "And we're going to win it."

On Wednesday, the federation confirmed that, "in partnership with CONCACAF and its members, [U.S. Soccer] will complete the bid process." It did not mention Mexico, and has not clarified whether the U.S. still plans to include its southern neighbors in the proposal.

The U.S. and Mexico had jointly entered the race for the 2027 Women's World Cup, but withdrew their halfhearted bid weeks before a FIFA vote last year. U.S. cities, locked in contentious commercial negotiations surrounding the 2026 men's World Cup, had hardly been engaged by the bid team. Insiders, meanwhile, indicated that FIFA leadership wanted to hold the 2027 tournament in Brazil. (Brazil ultimately won the vote, 119-78 over a joint European bid.)

So, the U.S. and Mexico said they would "instead focus on bidding to host the tournament in 2031."

The expectation was that they would face stiff competition from an England-led United Kingdom bid, perhaps from a second European bid, and perhaps even from China.

But on Wednesday, the FIFA Council — an opaque ruling body led by FIFA president Gianni Infantino — cleared away that competition. Infantino and the Council also decided that only African or European countries will be able to bid for the 2035 Women's World Cup — making the UK bid a favorite for that edition.

FIFA's vague justification was, apparently, continental rotation, "taking into account the countries that have previously hosted the tournament." France (Europe) hosted in 2019; New Zealand (Oceania) and Australia (a member of Asia's soccer confederation) hosted in 2023; Brazil (South America) will host in 2027.

There is no FIFA regulation backing that justification. There is no rule stating that a continent must wait two cycles after it last hosted a Women's World Cup to stage the tournament again. There is not even a "principle" or precedent for forcing a confederation to sit out three cycles. But that is what FIFA, after negotiations behind closed doors, will force Europe, Asia and Oceania to do.

How, exactly, was the decision made? FIFA did not say, and did not immediately respond to questions seeking further comment. The scheme, though, falls in line with similar ones that steered the 2030 men's World Cup to Spain, Portugal and Morocco (with three opening games in South America) and the 2034 men's World Cup to Saudi Arabia.

As Lars Haue-Pederson, managing director of BCW Sports, a leading bid consultancy, told Yahoo Sports at the time: "The awarding of major events is moving toward some kind of dialogue process."

Some kind of dialogue led to Wednesday's announcement. The dialogue clearly included the favored hosts. Within an hour of FIFA's announcement, the UK's soccer federations announced their 2035 bid; and Cone, weeks ago, had already written in an annual report to U.S. Soccer stakeholders: "Working with CONCACAF and FIFA, we are advancing a bid to host the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup.”

Although the decisions were ratified by the 37-member FIFA Council, they reeked of high-level politicking and compromises. The Council, sources have told Yahoo Sports, often serves to essentially rubber-stamp decisions made by Infantino in consultation with the six men who run soccer's regional confederations — who meet a day before the larger meetings as the more exclusive "Bureau of the FIFA Council."

And because both meetings are entirely private, nobody could challenge the decisions.

The upshot for U.S. Soccer is that most potential challengers for the 2031 Women's World Cup have been barred.

From Africa, Morocco and South Africa have both floated bids. But the North American bid, which will promise record-breaking revenue and packed NFL stadiums, will be a heavy favorite — whether U.S. Soccer includes Mexico or goes alone.

That CONCACAF is inexplicably barred from the 2035 bidding process suggests that FIFA is banking on the U.S.-led bid winning in 2031.

It would mark the third time the Women's World Cup would be held in the United States. The groundbreaking 1999 edition still holds various attendance records. The 2003 edition was relocated from China to the States due to the SARS epidemic. Since then, the tournament has been held in China, Germany, Canada, France and Australia-New Zealand.

FIFA said that bidding regulations and requirements had been approved. Deadlines have not yet been announced, but "it is anticipated that the decisions on the hosts of the [2031 and 2035] competitions will be taken" at a meeting of all 211 FIFA member associations in the spring of 2026.

American officials, though, are already confident. At U.S. Soccer's annual general meeting last weekend, as Cone detailed efforts to capitalize on major events, the federation showed stakeholders a slide that placed the Women's World Cup trophy alongside logos for the 2025 men's Club World Cup, 2026 men's World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

(U.S. Soccer presentation at 2025 annual general meeting)
(U.S. Soccer presentation at 2025 annual general meeting)

"These tournaments will generate significant economic impact," Cone said, "enabling further investments into our game, and into communities, your communities, across America."

Also on Wednesday, FIFA announced that a Women's Club World Cup — which Infantino previously said would launch in January 2026 — will instead launch in 2028.

The long-promised tournament is seen as desirable by many in the women's game, and full of potential, because — unlike in men's soccer, where the sport's best clubs are concentrated in Western Europe — there is constant and legitimate debate about the relative quality of women's club teams in Europe, Asia and the Americas. And, to date, there is no one competition that allows them to settle that debate on the field.

FIFA, though, before and after Infantino's 2024 proclamation, has dragged its feet on the creation of a global women's competition. It hardly communicated any details to leagues and clubs in 2024, and instead focused on the somewhat slapdash launch of a men's Club World Cup — which is controversial and has sparked resistance from powerful leagues and clubs in Europe.

So it became clear to people throughout women's soccer that the 2026 launch would not happen. But now, FIFA says, it has a plan.

"The inaugural edition of the quadrennial FIFA Women’s Club World Cup will take place in January-February 2028," FIFA said in a release after Wednesday's FIFA Council meeting.

It will essentially be a 19-team tournament, with a play-in round and then a 16-team group stage. Asia, Africa, CONCACAF and South America will each send at least two teams; Europe will send at least five; and every confederation, including Oceania, will have the opportunity to send an additional team via the play-in round.

FIFA said the tournament's host(s) would "be determined by FIFA in due course."

In the interim, it also said it would launch a smaller "Women’s Champions Cup," a six-team showdown akin to the former men's Club World Cup, in 2026. That tournament will be held annually in non-Club World Cup years, and feature the champions of the six confederations from the previous season.