FIFA confirms 48-team women's World Cup
The women's World Cup will be expanded from 32 to 48 teams from the 2031 edition onwards after the FIFA Council approved the proposal at a virtual meeting on Friday.
The 48-team World Cup will adopt a 12-group format, increasing the total number of matches from 64 to 104 - the same as the expanded men's World Cup in 2026, and extending the tournament by one week.
The hosting requirements for the 2031 and 2035 editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup have been adapted accordingly.
FIFA will further engage with the stakeholders involved in the consultation process to address their feedback.
"This is not just about having 16 more teams playing in the FIFA Women's World Cup but taking the next steps in relation to the women's game in general by ensuring that more FIFA Member Associations have the chance to benefit from the tournament to develop their women's football structures from a holistic point of view," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The FIFA Council equally approved the FIFA Strategy for Action for Afghan Women's Football, which foresees the establishment of the Afghan women's refugee team (AWRT) and provides the FIFA administration with a mandate to organise and facilitate its operations to start its activities as soon as possible.
FIFA is engaging directly with the relevant players.
The revised edition of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) has also been unanimously approved by the FIFA Council. It includes a comprehensive set of proactive regulatory measures aimed at countering discriminatory behaviour both on and off the pitch.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
2 days ago
- The National
Club World Cup: New era at Real Madrid and Al Hilal as Alonso and Inzaghi begin reigns
If spectators at Miami's Hard Rock stadium are in luck, the best Club World Cup final of recent memory will be reimagined on Wednesday night, Florida time. If precedent is a sound guide, the new-look competition should prepare for plenty of goals – the last time Real Madrid and Al Hilal met they shared eight of them over 90 minutes, Europe's finest pipping Asia's grand dukes for the trophy. That Club World Cup, in early 2023, was still being organised in its slimmed-down form, but turned out to be seminal in many respects. It was staged in Morocco, to where the joint hosting rights for a World Cup – the 2030 edition – would be awarded by Fifa a few months later. That Al Hilal team was about to be transformed by a huge financial injection that would raise the club's global profile. And Real Madrid … well, they did as Madrid tend to do in these major events. They found a way of winning while offering the opposition a sniff of an upset. The final score in Rabat was 5-3 but for over half an hour Al Hilal were within a goal of parity. Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde scored twice each for a Madrid whose line-up, two and half years on, will likely include that pair and several other longer servants of the club, although there is no mistaking the significant rebuild ahead at football's most glamorous institution. At the Hard Rock, under what is forecast to be a fierce summer heat, Trent Alexander-Arnold, signed from Liverpool, anticipates a debut while Luka Modric will be embarking on his farewell competition at a club where he has collected six Club World Cup or Intercontinental Cup titles and half a dozen European Cups among his 28 trophies with Madrid. Above all, there's a new manager, Xabi Alonso, making his bow, his employers boasting that they have captured the best manager still in his 40s. Al Hilal might contest that. Their new coach, also making his touchline premiere, is 49-year-old Simone Inzaghi, whose time at Inter Milan came to an end earlier this month just after he had guided the Italians to a second Uefa Champions League final in the space of three years. Inzaghi spoke of his 'affection for Saudi Arabian football,' at his presentation, citing his trips to the kingdom as Inter coach, notably for a series of Italian Super Cups staged in Riyadh, but he does not have the background of familiarity that Alonso, an ex Madrid player, enjoys. So Inzaghi reached out to touchstones from his European experience. The Italian says he will relish working with the dynamic Al Hilal midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, an ally when Inzaghi coached Lazio while also surveying a squad that, even after a disappointing season – Al Hilal were dethroned as Saudi champions by Al Ittihad in May – has a comforting worldliness. That starts at the back, with a goalkeeper greatly coveted, two years ago, by Madrid. Real's strategists based their high estimation of Yassine Bounou, or 'Bono' as he is universally known, on his brilliant body of work over five seasons with Sevilla. His heroics were responsible for two Europa League victories, and his masterly shot-stopping for Morocco was also influential in their historic march to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup. But in the summer of 2023, Bono said 'no' to joining Europe's most decorated club, choosing instead the bold ambition of Saudi Arabian football. He promptly won a domestic treble of league, King's Cup and Super Cup, and added extended runs in the Asian Champions League to a rare CV of global experience, one that stretches from an African Champions League final, when he was 20, with Casablanca's Wydad, or WAC, and on to those Europa League odysseys with Sevilla. At this, the inaugural supersized Fifa Club World Cup, Bono gets to trace many of the contours of his long professional journey. He was born in North America, where 34 years ago, his father, a professor of science, was working in academia in Montreal, returning not long into Yassine's childhood to Morocco. As an aspiring footballer, he grew up with WAC, who are among the four African contenders at the Club World Cup, but was courted from there by Atletico Madrid – Spain's other representatives in the tournament – his first stop on a voyage through La Liga that ended up with his fruitful Sevilla spell. There are compatriots in Bono's immediate sightlines, too. Al Hilal's second group game is against Pachuca, of Mexico, where Morocco international winger Oussama Idrissi has made an intrepid, impressive mark over the last two seasons. In Miami, the goalkeeper confronts a formidable Madrid strike-force that may at some stage include Bono's celebrated teammate with the Atlas Lions, Brahim Diaz. The coming weeks are significant for Brahim. Xabi Alonso's appreciation of what the player offers, across a variety of attacking positions, is unknown. A proposed extension of Brahim's Madrid contract, which currently expires in 2027, has been outlined to the player within the short time Alonso, who left Bayer Leverkusen last month, has been in charge. What will be clearer in the course of the Club World Cup is whether Brahim can expect more playing time under the new coach than he saw under Carlo Ancelotti, whom Alonso has replaced. Ancelotti always made it plain he valued Brahim highly and he frequently recognised that the player's regular impact, from the bench and starting a little less than 50 per cent of matches, was always a key part of his plan. But Brahim wants to be in Madrid's initial line-up for more than one game in every two. Alonso knows that. In Miami, we'll start to learn about how the coach intends to resolve that issue, among others, and to maximise the combined potency of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Brahim, Arda Guler, Endrick and Alexander-Arnold.
Sharjah 24
3 days ago
- Sharjah 24
UAE President: Sports key to national development
Sports as a cornerstone of national vision Honouring chess grandmaster Rouda Al Serkal These remarks came during a reception at Qasr Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi, where His Highness met with Rouda Essa Al Serkal, a member of the UAE national chess team and Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind Games. The meeting celebrated her recent victory at the Arab Chess Championship, where she earned the title of Grandmaster—becoming the first Emirati woman to do so—and qualified for the Chess World Cup finals. Presidential praise and encouragement His Highness congratulated Rouda Al Serkal on her historic achievement, calling it a valuable addition to the UAE's growing list of accomplishments in chess. He wished her continued success in the World Cup and commended her determination and perseverance from a young age. Rouda Al Serkal's appreciation Rouda Al Serkal expressed her joy at meeting His Highness and her gratitude for the support and encouragement she has received throughout her journey. She underscored that this backing has been pivotal to her success and said she is proud to represent Emirati women as the first to earn the Grandmaster title—an outcome she attributed to the leadership's ongoing efforts to empower women in all fields.
Al Etihad
3 days ago
- Al Etihad
UAE President: Supporting sports sector key pillar of nation's development vision
16 June 2025 14:28 ABU DHABI (WAM)UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has reaffirmed the country's commitment to supporting young Emirati sporting talents, developing their skills and capabilities, and harnessing all available resources to empower them to achieve sporting excellence at regional and international Highness noted that advancing the sports sector is a central component of the UAE's broader development vision, both now and in the Highness made these remarks during a reception at Qasr Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi, where he met with Rouda Essa Al Serkal, a member of the UAE national chess team and Abu Dhabi Chess Club & Mind meeting marked her recent triumph at the Arab Chess Championship, where she secured the title of Grandmaster – the first Emirati woman to earn this prestigious international designation – and her qualification for the Chess World Cup Highness the President congratulated Rouda Al Serkal on this remarkable achievement, describing it as a valuable addition to the UAE's record of accomplishments in chess. His Highness wished her continued success in her upcoming participation in the World Cup and praised the determination and perseverance she has demonstrated since an early her part, Rouda Al Serkal expressed her joy at meeting His Highness and conveyed her gratitude for the support and encouragement she has highlighted the significant role this backing has played in her journey, adding that she is proud to be the first Emirati woman to earn the title of Grandmaster, a milestone that reflects the leadership's vision to empower Emirati women and enable them to realise their ambitions across all fields.
