The 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the 11th edition of the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

, the quadrennial international women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

championship contested by the national teams that represent the member associations of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. The tournament will be the first to involve 48 national teams, including that of the host nation. The main hosts will be the Mexico and the United States with other CONCACAF members possibly hosting games as well, which will be the third FIFA Women's World Cup the United States will host after

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. The latter host, which was originally China, was moved because of the SARS outbreak there. The United States already hosted the men's

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

and is set to co-host the men's

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

with Mexico and Canada. The country has also hosted the

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario (, , ; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's soccer tournament that was hosted by the United States in 2016. The competition was a celebration of the centennial of CONMEBOL and the Copa Am� ...

in 2016, the

2024 Copa América The 2024 Copa América was the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men's association football, soccer championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in the United Sta ...

, and every

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

. This will be the first time Mexico will host the FIFA Women's World Cup, thus becoming the seventh country—after Sweden, the United States, Germany, France, Canada, and Brazil—to host both the men's and women's World Cup, having hosted the former in

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1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, and 2026.

Host selection

The host nation for the 2031 Women's World Cup is scheduled to be decided by the 76th

FIFA Congress The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Association Football Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA . FIFA is the international governing body of ...

on April 30, 2026 in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, two years after the host selection for the 2027 edition. On March 5, 2025, the FIFA Council approved the bid regulations which restricted bids to

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

and CAF members. The key dates include: * March 31, 2025: Member associations to submit their expressions of interest to host the 2031 and 2035 Women's World Cup * April 30, 2025: Member associations to confirm their interest in bidding to host the Women's World Cup by submitting the bidding agreement * Q2 2025: Bid workshop and observer program to take place * Q4 2025: Member associations to submit their bids to FIFA * February 2026: FIFA to organize on-site inspection visits to bidding countries * May 2026: Publication of FIFA's bid evaluation report * 2nd quarter: Designation of bids by the FIFA Council * April 30, 2026: Appointment of the 2031 and 2035 Women's World Cup hosts at the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, Canada On April 3, 2025, FIFA announced that the United States bid was the only valid bid with other

nations eligible to host games. The United States bid had been announced alongside Mexico and had explored a limited number of matches in Costa Rica and Jamaica. On April 3, 2025, FIFA announced that the United States bid was the only valid one, along with other CONCACAF nations eligible to host matches. Mexico later joined the United States as hosts on May 27, 2025. Mexico joined the United States as host on May 27, 2025.

Format

The expansion of Women's World Cup from 32 to 48 teams comes with the success of

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

, where the number of participants was increased from 24 to 32 teams. The rapid growth of women's soccer in the 2020s led to the potential expansion following suit with the men's World Cup. During the March 5, 2025, FIFA Council meeting, FIFA president

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (); (born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss-Italian Association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and the president of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 26 Febr ...

stated that the tournament would possibly be expanded to 48 teams depending on decisions made in the lead-up to the host selection. On April 3, 2025, the tournament was expanded to 48 teams starting from the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup and it was confirmed one month later on May 9, 2025. This will be the first FIFA Women's World Cup to include 48 teams, an increase from 32 teams, mirroring the expansion of Men's World Cup since

2026 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 – Bulgaria is expected to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. * January 6 – The 2025 Jubilee will end on this day. * February 5 – The New START Treat ...

. The teams will be split in 12 groups of 4 teams, with the top two of each group and the eight best third-placed teams progressing to a new round of 32. The total number of games played will increase from 64 to 104, and the number of games played by teams reaching the final four will increase from seven to eight. The format will be the same as the one used in the FIFA World Cup since 2026.

Venues

In its hosting requirements document, FIFA stipulated that the 32-team competition will have a minimum of eight stadiums—of which at least five were existing venues. The stadiums would have minimum seating capacities of 20,000 for most matches, 40,000 for semifinal matches, and 65,000 for the opening match and final. However, additional changes will be made to accommodate the expansion to 48.

Teams

Qualification

FIFA's confederations organize their own qualifying competitions, with the exception of CAF and

which qualify teams through continental championships. The hosts

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

qualified automatically for the tournament, leaving most of the remaining FIFA member associations eligible to enter qualification if they chose to do so. * AFC (Asia): TBD * CAF (Africa): TBD *

(North America, Central America and the Caribbean): TBD (including co-hosts

and the

) *

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

(South America): TBD * OFC (Oceania): TBD *

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

(Europe): TBD * Inter-confederation play-off tournament: TBD

Qualified teams

Marketing

Broadcasting

* –

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2031 FIFA Women's World Cup FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments FIFA Women's World Cup, 2031

International women's association football competitions hosted by Mexico International women's association football competitions hosted by the United States