NEW YORK: The US plans to co-host the 2031 World Cup with regional neighbors, the same structure being used for the men’s championship next year.
Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica were added Monday to the US Soccer Federation proposal as co-hosts, the only bid to be considered when FIFA members meet April 30 to formally decide where the expanded 48-nation tournament will be played.
“This Women’s World Cup will be equal in every sense of the word to a men’s World Cup,” US Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone said during a news conference, “not just in the number of teams and matches, but equal in the quality of the facilities, with the same type of travel, accommodations and support.”
She said more than 30 US cities have expressed interest in hosting in 2031, when 104 games will be played. Decisions on stadiums likely won’t be made until 2027 at the earliest.
Next year’s men’s tournament will be played at 11 NFL stadiums, three in Mexico and two in Canada, with all games in the US from the quarterfinals on.
FIFA, running the World Cup rather than a local organizing committee, is asking up to $6,730 list price for regular tickets and as much as $73,200 for an eight-game hospitality plan at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, site of the 2026 men’s final on July 19.
“The demand for the Women’s World Cup here is going to be incredible,” USSF CEO JT Batson said. “We see from our own pricing data of selling tickets for our men’s and women’s national team games that ticket prices are very similar.”
Batson said the USSF, FIFA, host federations and host cities will reflect on next summer’s tournament as part of planning for 2031.
The US hosted the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which was expanded from 12 teams
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