The Women’s World Cup will increase to 48 groups beginning in 2031, when the U.S. is predicted to host the match, FIFA introduced Friday.
The long-anticipated transfer brings the ladies’s occasion in step with the boys’s World Cup, which is able to characteristic 48 groups for the primary time in 2026, co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The growth is probably going so as to add no less than 4 stadiums and cities to the 2031 plans, with FIFA hinting the match may stretch into Mexico or different components of the CONCACAF area.
It follows one month after FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated there was only one candidate bidding for every of the 2031 and 2035 ladies’s tournaments — the U.S. adopted by the U.Okay.
FIFA is predicted to verify these two hosts subsequent yr.
Brazil will host a 32-team Women’s World Cup in 2027, utilizing simply eight stadiums in eight cities, which have been confirmed this week.
Brazil used 12 stadiums in 12 cities when it hosted the boys’s World Cup in 2014, and the inaugural 48-team males’s match subsequent yr will use 16 stadiums — in 11 U.S. cities, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
FIFA stated the expanded, 104-game match with 48 groups “will significantly broaden representation, offering more nations and players access to elite competition and accelerating investment in women’s football worldwide.”
The Women’s World Cup had simply 16 groups as not too long ago because the 2011 version in Germany, 24 groups at every of the following two tournaments in Canada and France, then 32 groups for the primary time in 2023, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
The 2023 version defied issues that the match had grown too quick, would characteristic too many overmatched groups and lead to lopsided scores.
In 2019, the defending champion U.S. group beat Thailand 13-0 in its opening group-stage sport.
In 2023, the largest win was the Netherlands beating Vietnam 7-0, and the match “set a new standard for global competitiveness,” Infantino stated Friday in an announcement, as a result of “teams from all confederations won at least one game and teams from five confederations reached the knockout stage.”
The growth plan was welcomed by the worldwide gamers’ union FIFPRO, which known as for “inclusive decision-making and cooperative planning.”
“It is critical that the global development of women’s competitions goes hand in hand with improved labor conditions and the advancement of players, as well as development further down the pyramid,” the Netherlands-based union stated. “This is the only path to true sustainability, expansion and progress.”
In latest years, FIFA has up to date and improved contractual protections for gamers and coaches throughout being pregnant and after giving beginning.
Source: www.dailysabah.com