The Football Associations of the home nations have announced their intention to form a joint bid to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales.
A statement from English FA CEO Mark Bullingham said: “Hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2035 would be an honour. We strongly believe we would organise a fantastic tournament, building on the success of UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and the subsequent rapid growth of the women’s game.”
News of the bid comes following the FIFA Congress, where the world governing body recommended that the 2031 tournament should be staged in CONCACAF or Africa, while the 2035 event should be staged in Africa or Europe.
What is the process for host selection?
The official timeline for the bidding process has yet to be revealed, but the final decision on the hosts of the 2031 and 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cups will be taken at next year’s FIFA Congress.
Once all official bids have been placed, FIFA will decide on which bids are eligible to be put forward for voting. At least eight eligible stadia are required from a host nation or nations. Once the eligible bids have been confirmed, inspection visits to the bidding countries will then take place.
Following these visits, a bid evaluation report is then published which assesses each bidding nation on a variety of areas including event sites (such as venue for the tournament draw), transport infrastructure, safety and security, event timing and sustainability.
At the FIFA congress, the 211 FIFA members will then vote on the bids until there is a majority and the host nation(s) is then confirmed. Following this, the final venues from those included in the successful bid will then be confirmed.
Where could matches take place?
England has a wide variety of venues which could stage matches at the World Cup should the bid be successful. The final would likely be at Wembley Stadium, as it was when England hosted UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, which they won.
With a capacity of 52,000 Scotland’s national stadium at Hampden Park would also likely be a candidate venue. Murrayfield, Celtic Park and Ibrox could also be options. In Wales, Cardiff would likely be a host city, with the Principality Stadium and Cardiff City Stadium both viable options.
Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium in Dublin are likely to be the options for host venues in the Republic of Ireland. For Northern Ireland things are less clear after Casement Park was removed as a venue for the men’s Euro in 2028.
A total of ten venues were used for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. However, 12 will be used for the 2027 tournament which will take place in Brazil.
What are the chances of bid success?
The home nations have a very good recent track record of hosting major tournaments. Not only did England host a very successful UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, but Wembley and Hampden Park successfully hosted matches at the men’s UEFA Euro 2020 despite restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crucially, the bid also has government support. Following yesterday’s announcement of the intention to bid, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Football is, and always will be, at the core of our country’s identity.”
On the pitch, England and Wales have both qualified for this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland, where they will face each other in their final Group D match on 13 June.
At this point it is not known which other nations will be bidding for the tournament, although this will be announced in the next few weeks. Given the number of hugely successful global events which have been staged in the UK since the 2012 Olympics, there is every reason for optimism that the bid for the Women’s World Cup can be successful.