FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that the United States-Mexico and the United Kingdom are the sole respective bidders for the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups.
Infantino made the announcement on Thursday at the 49th UEFA Congress in Belgrade, Serbia. Should a compliant bid be submitted by the end of 2025, this will pave the way for the UK to host the Women’s World Cup for the first time. The U.S. last hosted in 2003, having previously done so four years earlier, while Mexico has never staged games.
The Football Associations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland announced in March they would be submitting a collective expression of interest to host the 2035 tournament, seemingly leaving the U.S. and Mexico as the sole bidders for 2031.
U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Soccer Federation announced last April their intention to lodge a joint bid for the 2031 tournament. The two federations withdrew their bid for the 2027 World Cup — which will be staged in Brazil — to instead focus on 2031.
At March’s FIFA council meeting, football’s international governing body had invited federations affiliated to UEFA or the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to bid for the 2035 tournament. Reports in Spain had suggested Spain, Morocco and Portugal were planning to launch a rival bid for 2035 but the UK was described as the only “valid” bid by Infantino. Spain, Morocco and Portugal will jointly host the men’s competition in 2030.
The Athletic reported in March that the U.S.-Mexico bid was exploring staging matches in Costa Rica and Jamaica. Sources familiar with discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated early-stage conversations about hosting a limited amount of fixtures in the two Concacaf countries had taken place.
See here and here for some background, and here for the US Soccer statement. It is of course my hope that Houston will be able to host some of these games, as they are hosting 2026 Men’s World Cup games. I’ll be looking for stories to that effect, and will plot to attend some games if and when that happens.