The German Football Association has one less major competitor in its bid for the 2027 Women’s World Cup – but still has to fight hard for a contract. The USA and Mexico have withdrawn their joint application and would like to host the world tournament in 2031 instead, the US association announced.
Germany hopes to co-host the World Cup with the Netherlands and Belgium, but still has strong opponents in Brazil.
The decision will be made at the congress of the world association FIFA on May 17th in Bangkok, Thailand. The German side is scheduled to play in Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Cologne. The decision from the USA and Mexico does not change the focus on the general assembly, said the DFB. The organizing team has “worked intensively over the past two years on designing and planning the bid, which we believe will be the basis for a FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 of unique quality and impact.”
The last time Germany hosted the Women’s World Cup was in 2011. The last final round to date took place in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, when the DFB women surprisingly failed in the preliminary round.
South Africa also withdrew
South Africa had already withdrawn its application before the USA and Mexico. The USA, which together with Mexico and Canada will host the next men’s World Cup in 2026 and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, already hosted the women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2003. An alignment in 2031 was probably the preferred plan anyway, given the major events in 2026 and 2028.
If Brazil were to win the contract, it would be the first World Cup for women’s footballers in South America. In addition, the 2014 World Cup stadiums could be used for a tournament there. We are now working “tirelessly to obtain the necessary votes to host the Women’s World Cup in our country for the first time in history,” said the president of the Brazilian CBF association, Ednaldo Rodrigues, in response to the withdrawal of the USA and Mexico .
Brazil’s head of the association comments
“Women’s football is one of the priorities of my term and the organization of this great event will give a great boost to the spread of women’s football throughout the country,” said Rodrigues, also announcing that the CBF will support the joint bid of the USA and Mexico to host the I will support the 2031 World Cup.
The DFB and its competitors are currently in a difficult sports policy situation. In the deal surrounding the planned organization of the men’s World Cups in 2030 and 2034 on a total of four continents, South America was recently satisfied with three games – and now sees its turn. The fuss surrounding the “One Love” armband, which Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, among others, initially wanted to wear at the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar, should not have been forgotten in parts of the football world.
DFB relies on financial incentives
Despite strong criticism from Germany about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, the German association recently avoided criticism of the designated host of the 2034 Men’s World Cup; DFB President Bernd Neuendorf recently described Saudi Arabia as a “real football country”.
In the bidding race for the World Cup with 32 teams, the DFB is primarily relying on financial incentives. “Our great hope is that we can guarantee a lot economically. We will make it clear to FIFA that the World Cup in our countries will be a monetary success,” said project manager Patrick Kisko before the official deadline for submission to the world association in Zurich in December.
Confidence with Künzer
Last summer’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand generated record revenues of $570 million (around €527 million). “We will increase this significantly. I don’t know if Brazil and USA/Mexico can achieve this,” Kisko said.
“I believe that we can offer a World Cup with excellent infrastructure and organization, with short distances to the venues and the prospect of a very good monetary profit, which will flow back into the global development of women’s football,” explained the new DFB sports director Nia Künzer recently appeared in “Kicker”.
