TOPSHOT - FIFA President Gianni Infantino announces Brazil as the hosts of the 2027 Women's World ... [+]
Brazil has won the right to stage the 10th FIFA Women's World Cup finals in 2027 becoming the first South American nation to stage the biggest event in women's sport.
In a vote of the 207 members of the FIFA Congress eligible to vote in an electronic ballot in Bangkok today, 119 went for Brazil ahead of 78 for the rival joint-European bid from Belgium, Netherlands and Germany (BNG).
In the FIFA Bid Evaluation Report released last week, the Brazilian application received a higher overall score of 4.0 out of 5, compared to the 3.7 of the rival bid from BNG. Despite offering a more compact, environmentally-sustainable choice, the BNG bid was marked down on its ability to deliver a financially successful tournament due to its more strict legal requirements around taxation.
There has been criticism that the hosts of the next Women's World Cup finals has been chosen so late while FIFA has already decided on the countries staging the next two men's World Cups in 2026 and 2030. Brazil as a country now has only 37 months to prepare itself to stage the tournament. The fact that it already has most of the relevant infrastructure in place may have therefore counted in its favor.
Brazil hosted two celebrated men's World Cups in 1950 and 2014, and more recently staged the Summer Olympics in 2016 in which the women's Football Tournament attracted the largest attendance of the entire Rio Games. 70,454 watched the Olympic Women's Football semi-final between Brazil and Sweden in Rio de Janeiro.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 16: The players of Brazil walk out onto the pitch during the ... [+]
The 78,838-capacity Estadio Jornalista Mário Filho - better known around the world as the Maracanã - will host the Opening and Closing Match of the Tournament. It will thus become the first stadium in the 21st century to stage the men's and women's World Cup final, and the third overall after the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm and the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
In an apparent dig at their rival bid, which only proposed German stadiums close to the Belgian and Dutch border, the Brazilian presentation said that "we will stage the games in our best stadiums, because that's what the players deserve." All of the largest grounds which were used during the 2014 men's World Cup finals will be used once again. Matches will be staged in Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Cuiabá, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.
After the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, it will be the second successive tournament staged in a Southern Hemisphere winter. For the travelling fans and competing nations it will create similar logistical challenges moving between the venues and acclimatizing between the varying climates they will encounter. In the southern city of Porto Alegre, the average July temperature will be 16 degrees, compared to 29 in Cuiabá in the more tropical north of the country.
Focusing on their youthful population, the presentation to the FIFA Congress today emphasized that Brazil contains the third-largest number of users of social media, many of whom subscribe to their online platforms. Just as importantly, its location in the heart of South America will open up the Women's World Cup to fans throughout the continent. The fans of Colombia, who made their presence felt in Australia last summer as their team reached the quarter-finals for the first time, traveled in huge numbers to the men's World Cup in Brazil and will look forward to doing so again should their team qualify.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 08: Fans show their support prior to the FIFA Women's World Cup ... [+]
A Women's World Cup in Brazil will also begin one week later than the proposed tournament in Europe. Their preferred dates for the 2027 finals are between June 24 and July 25, giving the top players in the European leagues another week to rest and recover following the culmination of their domestic campaigns.
By staging the 2027 finals in South America, it means the 2031 Women's World Cup is likely to be staged in either Africa (which has yet to host the tournament), Europe or North America. England and Spain have already expressed an interest in staging the tournament and can now press on with that ambition. Had the BNG bid been successful this time, a European nation would have been ruled out of staging the next tournament.
Also in contention, would be a joint-bid from the United States and Mexico, who until recently were hoping to stage the 2027 tournament. After hosting the 2026 men's World Cup jointly with Canada, they will base their bid around their proven infrastructure, world-class stadiums and a unique call for equality proclaiming that "in a historic first, the bid will call for equal investment as the men’s tournament, eliminating investment disparities to fully maximize the commercial potential of the women’s tournament".