Soccer

U.S., Mexico plan bid to co-host 2027 Women’s World Cup

U.S. interest in hosting the women's tournament for the first time since 2003 – and the third time overall – is not a surprise. Teaming up with Mexico is.

U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone is one of the main drivers of this World Cup partnership. AP Photo/Julio Cortez

By Steven Goff, Washington Post

April 20, 2023

The U.S. and Mexican soccer federations announced Wednesday night that they intend to bid to co-host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup – which comes one year after those countries, along with Canada, will jointly stage the World Cup for men.

U.S. interest in hosting the women’s tournament for the first time since 2003 – and the third time overall – is not a surprise. Teaming up with Mexico is.

“The United States has always been a global leader for the women’s game, and we would be honored to co-host the world’s premier event for women’s soccer along with Mexico,” U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement.

“Women’s football in Mexico has experienced sustained growth over the last five years and its development, both on and off the field, coupled with the female empowerment it has achieved and will continue to achieve, is one of the strategic priorities” for the Mexican federation, its president, Yon de Luisa, said in a statement. “It is with pleasure that we are teaming up again with the U.S. Soccer Federation.”

The deadline to submit an “expression of interest” in hosting the competition is Friday. Countries have until May 19 to submit a bid agreement. The formal bid is due Dec. 8, and after workshops and inspection tours, FIFA is scheduled to announce the winner in May 2024.

The 1999 World Cup in the United States set attendance records, including 90,185 for the final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and four years later the country stepped up on short notice to host after China withdrew because of the SARS virus.

With a solid foundation of support for women’s soccer – and women’s sports – and numerous venues at the ready in both countries, FIFA will look favorably on the U.S.-Mexico bid. However, the global governing body might hesitate in awarding the tournament to countries that will have hosted a major competition just a year earlier.

The 2026 World Cup for men will include a record 48 teams and 104 matches across 11 venues in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada. The women’s tournament expands to 32 teams this year, an increase of eight from 2019 and double the number of participants since the last time it took place in the United States.

Women’s pro soccer has grown immensely here over the past 20 years, with the NWSL in its 11th season and expanding to 14 teams next year.

The U.S.-Mexico bid could face severe head winds should FIFA look to grow the women’s game by playing its marquee event in South America or Africa, where the tournament has never been held.

China and the United States have hosted twice, and Sweden, Germany, Canada and France once apiece. Australia and New Zealand will co-host the competition this year.

Possible candidates for 2027 include Brazil, South Africa and a joint bid of Belgium, Germany and Netherlands.

“We haven’t hosted a [women’s] World Cup [since 2003], and so to bring it back and have ’26 followed by ’27 speaks great in trying to grow our region,” Parlow Cone told HBO Max before the U.S.-Mexico men’s friendly in Glendale, Ariz. “We didn’t want to do the bid alone. We reached out to Mexico, and they jumped right in.”