2027 Women’s World Cup: Brazil named host, bringing the tournament to South America for the first time

Brazil officially won the right to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup after winning a joint bid from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands to become the first South American country to host the competition.

The FIFA Council voted on the decision at the FIFA Congress, held in Bangkok, Thailand.

The winning bid was considered the favorite to win the rights in recent weeks when news emerged that Brazil was the FIFA Council’s preference to host the competition. Those reports came shortly after the US and Mexico dropped their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup and refocused their efforts on the 2031 edition. ranking higher than the European bid in the FIFA bid evaluation report.

Brazil obtained four out of five, while the European candidacy obtained 3.7 out of five. The former outperformed the latter in three of the four categories – accommodation, venues for fan festivals and stadiums – while the European venture received higher marks for team and referee facilities. FIFA also considered the European bid to be “high risk” with regards to the legal and contractual framework that could make organizing the tournament more expensive.

The Belgium-Germany-Netherlands effort has also been criticized for choosing smaller venues than Brazil’s bid, something many argue would impede the rapid growth of women’s football. Six of the stadiums in the European bid accommodate fewer than 40,000 people, while each of the stadiums in Brazil’s camp reaches that limit.

The 2027 Women’s World Cup, regardless of where it would have been hosted, is seen as an opportunity to continue the development of women’s football. It will serve as a follow-up to the 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand, which set new attendance records for the tournament and viewership records in different countries, including the host countries and finalists’ homes, Spain and England. It was also a financially successful tournament, generating US$570 million in revenue, by front office sportsserving as an example of the economic potential of women’s football when interested parties invest appropriately.

Opening new paths

Brazil has been synonymous with football for several decades, but the popularity of women’s football lags behind the prominence of men’s football due to the long-standing oppression of women’s sport. It was illegal for women to play football in Brazil from 1941 to 1979, and the first women’s football league only started in 2007.

The tides are changing, however. Around 11 million people tuned in to Brazil’s first game in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, a 4-0 victory over Panama, and work hours were restructured across the country so people could watch the team compete.

That said, there is still room for improvement in Brazil. The rapid growth of women’s football in recent years has been concentrated in the US and Europe, where investment, media coverage and attendance are increasing at club and country level. This is true despite the success of Brazil’s women’s team – they were runners-up at the 2007 Women’s World Cup, won silver medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and boast one of the sport’s all-time greatest champions in Marta. The 38-year-old has won FIFA’s Best Female Player award six times and, although she will not compete in the 2027 competition, has become one of sport’s most inspirational figures as a steadfast advocate for women’s football.

By selecting Brazil to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, FIFA could be realizing the potential of the country – and South America as a whole – as the next destination to accelerate the development of women’s football around the world, and Thus, the 2027 Women’s World Cup arrives in Brazil with the potential to accelerate the development of the sport there.

Concerns about locations

The 2027 Women’s World Cup will share seven stadiums with the 2014 Men’s World Cup, offering the opportunity to host important matches in stadiums that became financial burdens for national teams and taxpayers shortly after the end of the 2014 World Cup.

However, several questions remain about the location – and conditions – of the selected sites. The 10 stadiums featured in Brazil’s bid book are spread across the country, as was the case during the 2014 men’s World Cup. Teams competing in Brazil have covered thousands of miles in many cases, including the US men’s team , what traveled about 9,000 miles during the group stage.

Two of the stadiums in the bid book may require major upgrades before 2027, amid severe flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, which began last month and continues. At least 149 people have died due to the floods, according to local authorities, while 108 are missing and more than 620,000 people have been displaced.

The Beira-Rio Stadium was flooded, but is no longer flooded, while the Grêmio Arena remains submerged, according to the Associated Press. It is unclear how much damage the stadiums suffered during the natural disaster, but the flooding forced the Brazilian Football Confederation to suspend the next two rounds of the men’s national championship.