FIFA – Women's Soccer Express

FIFA WWC: The 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup will have 48 teams

On Friday, May 9, FIFA announced that the 2031 Women’s World Cup — which will most likely be hosted by the United States of America, plus other Concacaf nations — will have a field of 48 teams. That is an increase of 50% compared to its present size of 32. The decision was made by the FIFA Council (fifa.com).

The idea of expanding the Women’s World Cup to 32 teams had been discussed seriously by those within the FIFA Council since at least September 2024.

As to what a 48-team Women’s World Cup would look like, see this article from September 2024. That article includes a section on the potential field of teams as well as the potential pots for the draw that would determine the groups.

FIFA press release: “FIFA Council takes landmark decisions on the future of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and on the fight against racism” (9-May-2025)

U.S. Soccer press release: “U.S. Soccer and Concacaf Partners to co-host 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup” (3-Apr-2025)

NWSL News of Note, Coaches and Front Offices Edition: Ellis departs Wave for FIFA, Interim coaching vacancies at Wave and Dash, Angel City and Racing GMs depart, Boston hires GM

Leading this special edition of NWSL News of Note is the surprise departure of San Diego Wave President Jill Ellis for a new position with FIFA.

The NWSL’s other Southern California club, Angel City, also has a front office vacancy due to general manager Angel Hucles Mangano “part[ing] ways” with the club.

Racing Louisville is looking for a new general manager after Ryan Dell left to pursue another opportunity.

Additionally, both the Wave and the Houston Dash have empty head coach offices. For the Wave, Landon Donovan “has conclude[d] his tenure”, while Ricky Clarke and the Dash “agreed to part ways”.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the new Boston franchise announced that it has hired FC Barcelona’s Domènec “Domè” Guasch as its first general manager.

A 48-Team FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031?

Update (9-May-2025): The 2031 FIFA WWC will have a field of 48-teams.

On Tuesday, two separate articles were published by British media about a push for FIFA to expand the final tournament of the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup to 48 teams, which would match the size of the next men’s World Cup in 2026 .

Absent a change in format, the expansion to 48 teams would introduce an additional knockout round, the Round of Thirty-Two, extend the length of the tournament by several days, and increase the number of matches from 64 (48 group, 16 knockout) to 104 (72 group, 32 knockout). (2026 men’s World Cup – Wikipedia) The expansion may also mean an increase in the roster size for each team.

Read on for the key quotes from each article, plus a discussion of the allocations by confederation for recent Women’s World Cups as well as a potential allocation scenario for a generic 48-team Women’s World Cup. For this specific scenario, a table of the potential pots is also presented.

Additionally, an alternative tournament format is discussed, which would preserve a traditional 32-team format for the final tournament but introduce an intermediate inter-confederation group stage.

FIFA Women’s International Match Calendars For 2013 and 2014

Last week, FIFA posted a circular (#1330) online detailing its official calendars for women’s matches in 2013 and 2014. These calendars list the reserved date windows when club teams are required to release their players for international friendlies, official qualifying matches, and finals tournaments. Continue reading “FIFA Women’s International Match Calendars For 2013 and 2014”

More Details on IFAB’s Headscarf Trial

On October 2nd, the The International Football Association Board (IFAB) held its Annual Business Meeting (ABM). Among the decisions (FIFA Circular #1322 (25-Oct-2012), PDF) to come out of that meeting was a directive on the trial use of headscarves (e.g., hijabs), which had already received the go ahead during IFAB’s special meeting in July (FIFA.com). This trial will last until the March 2014 IFAB Annual General Meeting. Continue reading “More Details on IFAB’s Headscarf Trial”