Sign up for Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter and get it sent straight to your inbox for free.
Sign up for Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Despite a boom in the women’s game, many officials see this week’s big decision over the next venue for the FIFA Women’s World Cup as an example of how much more needs to be done. would point out as such.
FIFA will announce the 2027 host country on Friday, just three years before the tournament begins. This is in sharp contrast to the men’s games, where the host country for 2034 has been known since October last year. Inconsistent.
The timescale for a decision in early 2034 is largely dependent on broader politics, and Friday’s vote is conditioned by exactly the same context.
On the one hand, there is a joint bid by Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The other is Brazil. It was expected that the United States would come forward, but politics become involved. That was seen as unlikely, as the United States has already hosted the 2025 Club World Cup and 2026 World Cup in the men’s game. In contrast, the thinking before the FIFA General Assembly in Bangkok was that Brazil were the overwhelming favorites to win the 2027 title. Part of the reason is that Brazil missed the opening three games of the 2030 World Cup in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay (before withdrawing to Morocco vs. Portugal). -Spain).
Of course, that decision would have to be made by all 211 members of the board, which is a big difference from the infamous process for the 2018 and 2022 Men’s World Cups. At the same time, there is a prevailing feeling that broader politics still influences such decisions. Many voters are attracted to the FIFA system led by president Gianni Infantino.
Both bids remain in dispute. Given the strong cultural popularity of women’s sports in South America, the women’s game is considered less developed than it should be, but like other regions, it continues to grow. The Brazil World Cup is the first tournament on the continent and is a symbolic and tangible landmark in the development of the games there. There’s also the fact that this tournament was held in Europe in his 2019, just two cycles ago.
It provides developmental, logistical and romantic reasons for Brazil. According to FIFA’s own technical report, their bid had a slightly higher score of 4.0 out of 5, compared to the joint European bid’s score of 3.7. The infrastructure has been around since his 2014 men’s tournament.
At the same time, the report acknowledged that the South American World Cup could have a “significant impact on women’s football in the region”, but that the South American World Cup would require “air travel” between host cities and would be “carbon intensive”. He points out.
This is one of the many areas where a so-called “BNG” bid could be considered advantageous.
First, although the event is taking place in three countries, the regions are intentionally defined to be within as small and independent a geographical space as possible. This means fans can take the train anywhere, but it also has other benefits. It would foster a sense of being a “global party” in one region, rather than fans spread out across a wide country, at a time when women’s soccer is rapidly growing. This is thought to create even more emotional momentum. More importantly for member organizations with many voting rights, small countries have a chance of winning the World Cup if they come together and think strategically.
After all, this was one of the aspects that seemed to typify the 2014 men’s tournament in Brazil. It was in the midst of an era when the World Cup seemed to have grown to such a scale that only continent-sized countries could host it. After all, Brazil followed South Africa, Russia and now the United States. The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand had many benefits as well, one of which was definitely not having to travel by plane all the time.
The Men’s World Cup in Qatar has rightly received a lot of criticism for a number of other reasons at play, but football officials say the possibility of watching two matches in one day will be considered for future tournaments. I felt it was the right thing to do.
Fans participating in “BNG” tournaments will be encouraged to do just that.
Campaign organizers believe this could have a further impact on the momentum of the World Cup. Fans will be going to more games while meeting other fans.
Beyond that, they will point to something particularly compelling to football voters: money. The BNG bid is expected to generate €1 billion in revenue from hosting the tournament in Western Europe, all of which will go back into the women’s game at a critical point in its development.
Friday’s vote will say a lot about the future of the women’s game, but also about broader football politics.
The prediction is that Brazil will win. BNG hopes to convince voters of the merits of its bid.