New Manchester United stadium could stage games at 2035 Women’s World Cup – FA

Manchester United’s proposed new 100,000-capacity stadium could stage matches at the 2035 Women’s World Cup, Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has said.

The United Kingdom is all but certain to host a first football World Cup since 1966 after the four-nation plan to stage the women’s finals in 10 years’ time was confirmed as the sole bid by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Thursday.

Bullingham said the four associations would be “really comfortable” if the finals were expanded to 48 teams, which is possible under the bidding regulations published by FIFA. That would likely require 16 venues, which Bullingham believes would allow the tournament to create more impact across the four nations.

He said it was the “assumption” Wembley would host the final but admitted the 10-year lead-in meant a number of new stadia, including United’s new ground, could feature.

“We’re going to have conversations with (United) and work out if they can be part of it or not,” he said at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade on Thursday.

“We’ve got a number of different stadia being built in the country, potentially Man United, potentially Birmingham, and with a 10-year horizon you’ve got to work out exactly where you’ll be then.

“There will be lots of conversations to be had, understanding timescales for stadium builds, understanding what people want and knitting that together.”

United hope to be in their new £ 2 billion stadium in time for the 2030-31 season.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer has already said the bid has British Government support and Bullingham said the UK government guarantees around tax issues and security funding would need to be provided to FIFA by the end of this month, ahead of the formal bid submission in