Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica have joined the United States’ bid to host the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer tournament, with matches set to be staged across all four nations.
The US-led joint bid for 2031 is uncontested, and world soccer’s governing body FIFA is expected to ratify the selection at its next FIFA Congress in Vancouver, Canada, on April 30 next year.
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The 2031 Women's World Cup will be the first to feature 48 teams after the FIFA Council unanimously approved the expansion from 32 teams in May.
In April, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that the United States, along with “potentially some other Concacaf members,” had put forward the sole bid to host the competition.
The US Soccer national federation had been waiting for FIFA to finalize the size of the tournament before announcing a joint bid with other nations from Concacaf, the confederation for soccer in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Cindy Parlow Cone, the US Soccer president, has now said in a statement: “Together, we have an extraordinary opportunity to host the biggest and most impactful Women's World Cup in history, one that will inspire a new generation of fans and help grow the women's game across our entire region and around the world.
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By GlobalData“We're excited to drive lasting progress for women's soccer by creating a legacy that reaches far beyond 2031 and sets a new global standard for the sport.”
Parlow Cone also revealed that more than 30 US cities have expressed interest in hosting in 2031, when 104 games will be played in total.
Concacaf's president and FIFA vice-president, Victor Montagliani, added: “Concacaf fully supports this four-nation bid, which embodies our One Concacaf philosophy.
“Our confederation's commitment to women's football has never been stronger, and hosting the Fifa Women's World Cup 2031 will build on this momentum, inspiring future generations of players and fans across North America, Central America and the Caribbean.”
The North American region is now set to stage two FIFA World Cups in five years, with the United States, Canada, and Mexico co-hosting the next men's tournament, in 2026.
The US and Mexico had initially planned to submit a joint bid for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, but withdrew their candidacy in April 2024 to focus on 2031.
FIFA then selected Brazil to stage the 2027 edition in May last year, bringing the event to South America for the first time. The hosts for both 2031 and 2035 will officially be confirmed at the FIFA Congress.
The UK, meanwhile, is currently the sole recognised bidder for the 2035 tournament.
The US-led group and the UK must officially present compliant submissions to FIFA by the end of this year. Should they do so, it will pave the way for the UK (which submitted an official expression of interest in March) to host women’s soccer’s biggest national teams tournament for the first time, while Mexico and Jamaica have never staged games before, either. Canada staged the event in 2015.
The 2031 tournament will mark the third time hosting for the US, after doing so in 1999 and 2003, more than any other nation. China, which hosted the inaugural World Cup in 1991, followed by the 2007 edition, has also hosted twice.
The event was last staged in Europe in France in 2019. It then traveled to Australia and New Zealand two years ago.
Infantino said earlier this year that he has a target of $1 billion in revenue for the Women's World Cup after the 2023 edition broke even with $570 million in revenue.
US Soccer expects the 2031 tournament to draw an estimated 4.5 million fans across all four nations.
