Women’s World Cup will expand to 48 teams in 2031

The Women’s World Cup will expand to 48 teams and 104 games in 2031, making it the largest and longest women’s tournament in history, FIFA announced Friday. The event is widely expected to be held in the U.S., the only country to bid for the rights to the competition.

FIFA is scheduled to announce a host country next summer.

The FIFA Council unanimously approved the changes during a meeting held virtually. The decision increases the number of participating countries from 32 and the number of games from 64, mirroring the expansion of the men’s tournament for 2026. The move, FIFA said, will significantly broaden representation by offering more nations and players access to elite competition while accelerating investment in women’s soccer.

“This is not just about having 16 more teams playing in the FIFA women’s World Cup but taking the next steps to relation to the women’s game in general by ensuring that more FIFA member associations have the chance to benefit from the tournament to develop their women’s football structures from a holistic point of view,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

Yet the expansion, which will double the size of the field from 2019, when 24 teams played 52 games in France, might be coming too quickly. In France, five group-play games were decided by four or more goals — including a 13-0 U.S. win over Thailand — while in 2023, when the tournament grew to 32 teams and 64 games, 10 first-round games were decided by at least four goals.

However, the last Women’s World Cup was the first in which teams from all six FIFA confederations won at least one game and the first in which teams from five confederations reached the knockout stage.

FIFPRO, the global organization representing professional soccer players, issued a statement Friday offering conditional support for the decision while also calling for additional steps to be taken to grow the women’s game.

“In principle, FIFPRO welcomes the expansion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as it reflects the global growth of the women’s game,” it read. “However, the support of players depends on inclusive decision-making and cooperative planning that respects all stakeholders. 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.

“This is the only path to true sustainability, expansion, and progress.”

The growth of the field will require an expansion of the prize-money purse for the tournament. The purse for next year’s 48-team men’s World Cup is more than doubling, to $896 million, according to FIFA. The purse for the last women’s tournament was $110 million. The last time the competition was held in the U.S., in 2003, the women received no payments.

The 2031 Women’s World Cup, if it is awarded to the U.S., will be the third played in this country and the fourth played in North America. In addition to the 2003 tournament, which was moved to the U.S. at the last minute, the 1999 competition was also played here while Canada staged the 2015 event.