Bids To Beat: FIFA Looking At U.S. To Host ’31 Women’s World Cup, ’35 U.K.

By Barry Janoff

April 3, 2025: Relating that they have received only one bid for each tournament, FIFA today said it anticipates the U.S. hosting the 2031 Women's World Cup and the U.K. hosting the 2035 edition.

A formal vote to confirm hosts for 2031 and 2035 is scheduled for early 2026.

“I can confirm that we have received one bid for 2031, and one valid bid for 2035,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said today during UEFA (Union of European Football Associations)’s annual meeting, being held in Belgrade, Serbia.

"The '31 bid is from the United States of America and potentially some other Concacaf members together and the '36 bid is from Europe from the Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

"So the path is there for the Women's World Cup to be taking place in '31 and '35 in some great countries and some great nations to boost even more the women's football movement,” said Infantino.

The first deadline to submit a bid has passed, with official bid-intention documents needing to be signed by the end of this month, according to FIFA.

FIFA has shared plans to expand the 2031 Women’s World Cup from 32 to 48 teams.

The U.K. has never hosted a Women's World Cup.

If finalized, the U.S. would host its third FIFA Women’s World Cup, joining the 1999 and 2003 tournaments.

Brazil will host the next FIFA Women’s World Cup, scheduled for June 24-July 25, 2027.

“We look forward to sharing more details and unveiling our full vision for the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the near future,” the U.S. Soccer Federation said via the organization.

England Football Assn. CEO Mark Bullingham said via his organization,"We are honored to be the sole bidder for the Women's World Cup 2035.

“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.”

Football Assn. of Ireland chief executive Patrick Nelson told BBC Sports, “We look forward to hosting games at the tournament and playing our part in what I have no doubt will be a fantastic tournament.

"There's still a lot of hard work to be done along with our partners in bringing it all together, however this will be a brilliant opportunity to show the world what Northern Ireland and Belfast have to offer."

The FIFA Men’s 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. is also hosting the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics and 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Regarding the Olympics, Infantino told the UEFA delegates that FIFA has proposed to the International Olympic Committee that more women’s soccer teams be included in the Games.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, there were 16 nations in the men’s tournament and 12 in the women’s tournament .

If the numbers could not be equal, Infantino said FIFA has proposed to reverse the numbers to have 16 women’s teams and 12 men’s teams.

“We had been asking the IOC whether we can have 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams. It seems this is not possible so our proposal would be that we should think about swapping it and having 16 women’s team and 12 men’s team to foster even more the women’s football movement,” Infantino said at the UEFA meeting.

“We owe that to women’s football. It would be a strong signal but we will see where that leads us.”

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