Following the announcement that the only valid bid for the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) is a submission by the UK, it has been reported that Spain, Portugal, and Morocco are now looking to host the 2039 edition instead.
The trio of countries had been planning to bid for the 2035 WWC, only for FIFA to then unveil late last week that the UK's hosting submission was the only "valid" bid received.
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Now, the Portuguese Football Federation has said that it, alongside its Spanish and Moroccan counterparts, "aim to present a joint bid to host the World Cup scheduled for 2039."
The Portuguese body said it is “in talks with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation with a view to co-organizing a Women's World Cup.”
For the 2035 tournament, bids were invited from either Europe or Africa – hence the Iberian countries and Morocco initially looking to bid (and expressing their interest publicly last month).
None of the trio have ever hosted WWC action before, while Spain – the defending WWC champions – and Portugal have also never staged the Women’s European Championships.
Morocco, however, did stage the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 and is also set to host the next edition of that event.
In terms of men's tournaments, meanwhile, the trio will host the vast majority of games from the 2030 FIFA World Cup, aside from three taking place across Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
For the 2030 World Cup, meanwhile, 20 stadiums (in 17 cities) across Spain, Portugal, and Morocco have applied to stage games from the 48-team event. Of those, a maximum of 12 would engage in capacity-adding work beforehand.
The joint bid was clapped through unopposed at the 2024 FIFA Congress in December, as was the allocation of three games from that tournament to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay (one each).
The showpiece WWC was last staged in Europe in France, in 2019. It then traveled to Australia and New Zealand two years ago (with Spain winning that tournament) and will be staged in Brazil in two years.
For the 2031 WWC, meanwhile, the US (and potentially other North/Central American or Caribbean countries) will play host, as was also announced late last week.
It was, in addition, confirmed at that time that the tournament in 2031 will feature 48 teams, up significantly from the 32 that will take part in Brazil in two years.
