Latest news with #UefaCongress
Observer
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Observer
USA sole bidder for 2031 Women's World Cup, UK set to host in 2035
BELGRADE: The United States is the sole bidder for the 2031 Women's World Cup, and the United Kingdom is set to host the 2035 tournament, Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced on Thursday. "Today I can confirm that we have received one bid for 2031 and one valid bid for 2035," said Infantino on stage at the Uefa Congress in Belgrade. "2031 is from the USA and potentially some other Concacaf members together, and '35 is from Europe, from the home nations," he added, referring to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Infantino also said Fifa planned to increase the number of participating teams at the Women's World Cup from 32 teams to 48 in time for the 2031 tournament. Thursday's announcement comes after the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland revealed last month that they would submit an expression of interest in staging the tournament. World football's governing body last month said it would only welcome bids for 2035 from Europe or Africa, with expressions of interest to be made in the first quarter of this year. "We are honoured to be the sole bidder for the Fifa Women's World Cup 2035," English Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said in a statement. President of FIFA Gianni Infantino addresses media during the 49th UEFA ordinary Congress held at the 'Sava Centar' congress centre in Belgrade on April 3, 2025. (Photo by PREDRAG MILOSAVLJEVIC / AFP) "Hosting England's first Fifa World Cup since 1966, along with our home nations partners, will be very special. The hard work starts now, to put together the best possible bid by the end of the year." Fifa has said that the identity of the hosts would be officially confirmed at its congress in the second quarter of 2026. The United States also confirmed in early March that it would push ahead with a bid for 2031. South Africa and Morocco had also been in the running with African nations invited to bid too, but Infantino's comments suggest they are now out of contention. The next Women's World Cup will take place in Brazil in 2027. The United States will co-host the 2026 men's World Cup with Canada and Mexico, and will also host the first edition of Fifa's expanded Club World Cup this June and July. Next year's World Cup will be the first time 48 teams have participated in the men's tournament, up from 32. The Women's World Cup was expanded from 24 teams to 32 for the first time for the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand. The United Kingdom and Ireland will co-host the men's European Championship in 2028, while the Women's Euro in 2022 took place in England. Fifa has already attributed the 2030 men's World Cup jointly to Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with three games also being played in South America. Saudi Arabia will then host in 2034. — AFP
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
UK almost certain to host Women's World Cup 2035 as ‘one valid bid'
The United Kingdom is set to host the 2035 Women's World Cup after Fifa president Gianni Infantino called its interest as "one valid bid" for those finals. The UK is now almost certain to host the event for the first time after the deadline passed on Monday. While the USA looks poised to host the 2031 Women's World Cup as the sole bid, Infantino confirmed, with Brazil confirmed as the 2027 hosts next. Infantino was speaking in Belgrade at Uefa Congress, with the football associations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales announcing last month a joint expression of interest in hosting the finals in 10 years' time. Spain's federation president Rafael Louzan last week announced his country's intention to bid alongside Portugal and Morocco, Infantino has now indicated the UK bid was the only one being considered. "We received one bid for 2031 and one bid - one valid bid I should add - for 2035," he said at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade. "The 2035 bid is from Europe, from the home nations."
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
United Kingdom poised to host Women's World Cup in 2035
The United Kingdom looks almost certain to host the 2035 Women's World Cup after Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino, described its interest as the 'one valid bid' for those finals. The football associations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales announced last month they would submit a joint expression of interest in hosting the finals in 10 years' time. The deadline for initial expressions of interest passed on Monday and, although Spain's federation president, Rafael Louzán, last week announced his country's intention to bid alongside Portugal and Morocco, Infantino indicated the UK bid was the only one being considered. 'We received one bid for 2031 and one bid – one valid bid I should add – for 2035,' he said at the Uefa Congress in Belgrade. 'The 2035 bid is from Europe, from the home nations.' More details soon …
The Independent
26-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Russia and the problem with international football bans
Uefa Congress takes place in Belgrade next week, and it is seen as an unusually sedate agenda, which could be quite a contrast to some of the discussions in corridors. 'Moves are currently happening to get Russia back into football,' one senior source tells the Independent. There are elevated football figures who would 'have them back tomorrow'. While Russia is said to still have considerable influence on the game, part of this push is simply about politics. Some believe the country should never have been thrown out in the first place. Internal pressure is growing. Uefa and Fifa are also facing much more external pressure about another issue, which is being discussed with the Russian precedent in mind. That is the proposed suspension of Israel following a move by the Palestine Football Association that the Asian Football Confederation has backed. The PFA said at least 92 Palestinian players have been killed in the war, football infrastructure has been destroyed, its leagues suspended and its national team required to play World Cup qualifiers abroad. Human Rights Watch has meanwhile written to Fifa about the Israel Football Association organising football activities in settlements on occupied land, which would go against the governing body's statutes, which state 'member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter's approval'. Fifa has been criticised for constantly putting the issue off, which has fed into the growth of a supporter movement called 'show Israel the red card'. Demonstrations have so far taken place in Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Scotland, Ireland, Turkey and Malaysia calling for a 'direct message' to Uefa and Fifa to 'apply their respective statutes and suspend Israel from competition'. Protestors might find they are sending such messages to the wrong place, raising the complicated discussion of how international suspensions work - and why nothing is likely to change in any of these cases soon. Fifa and Uefa did not suspend Russia out of any moral urge following the invasion of Ukraine. The move came because at least 12 European associations refused to play them, with an anticipation that would have risen to 18. Given that one of the countries was Poland and their planned World Cup qualifying play-off against Russia, Fifa was instantly faced with a crisis. The governing body wouldn't have been able to fulfil its fixtures that needed to be played imminently. It perhaps says something about football legislation that, in usual such circumstances, one source maintains that the country refusing to play would be more at risk of suspension. In this case, Uefa and Fifa ultimately had to decide between throwing 12 teams out or just one. It became an issue of 'preserving the integrity of the competition', so Russia were essentially suspended on a technicality. The Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted this rationale when Russia appealed. Fifa is not facing this urgency now. Although many Asian associations refuse to play Israel, that has been the case since the 1970s. It is why their teams have been in Uefa since 1994, having been expelled from the AFC following a Kuwaiti motion in 1974. Human rights organisation FairSquare consequently criticised Fifa and Uefa for ad hoc decision-making, with 'almost nothing in their statutes that enables them to take decisions in response' to geopolitical crises. It is why there is unlikely to be any change in any such situation. As Fifa president Gianni Infantino said when asked in February about Russia's ban: 'We want to have all the countries playing.' This, for once, is more than a line. The governing bodies actively seek to avoid suspending countries for political reasons, as they don't want to get into the complexities of legislating on every global conflict. It touches on the same reasons that political symbols are banned. One country's symbol of expression is another country's provocation. Otherwise, as numerous sources state, they might end up with half a competition. That is why the majority of bans or temporary bans from World Cups have been for reasons related to football or the running of football. As one of the most prominent examples, 1986 hosts Mexico were banned from 1990 for fielding overage players in the World Youth Championships. Others like Indonesia for 2018 have been down to alleged government interference. Even Japan, for the first World Cup after the Second World War in 1950, was officially for failing to pay dues. The West German federation hadn't been reformed by that point. There have only been three suspensions that were outright for political reasons, which were: Russia, Yugoslavia after UN sanctions following the Balkan war and apartheid South Africa. Two of those involved boycotts. The rationale goes deeper than just politics, too. A general view, from inside the football administration level of the sport, is that national teams should be seen as separate from the states in which they can play, since the form of the latter can be prone to extreme change. Some football administrators point to the example of Iran in the last World Cup, where the players didn't sing the national anthem out of silent protest against the government. More senior figures have loftier ideas about football being used to bring peace, which Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin spoke about when discussing the return of Russian youth sides. 'The moment a Russian child would come, let's say to Slovenia, and be embraced by a Slovenian child, he would see that we are not enemies and that life will have to go on,' he said. That idea can be witnessed in Fifa's slogan around Infantino's Instagram posts: #FootballUnitesTheWorld. It is partly how he and his predecessor Sepp Blatter are said to have harboured ambitions for Nobel Peace Prizes. If some of that seems absurd, there are more hard-bitten realpolitik elements to this too. Although football people felt strongly after the invasion of Ukraine, particularly in Poland, some faced pressure from their governments. Ceferin similarly claimed that the 2023 proposal to welcome back Russian youth teams 'was brutally attacked by mainstream politics, especially by the left wing'. The vast majority of national associations follow their state's foreign policy. It is why, according to one well-placed source, a boycott of Israel just isn't being mentioned among Uefa countries. The topic is being mentioned in some dressing rooms that face Israel, mind, as revealed by Martin Odegaard ahead of Norway's match. 'This is a background you can't ignore,' the Norway and Arsenal playmaker said of what is happening in Gaza. 'It's terrible for everyone. But we have to deal with the fact that Uefa decided the match would go ahead.' Except, it wasn't quite Uefa's decision. It is for similar reasons that the Russian suspension absolutely won't change without a proper ceasefire. Should that happen, though, senior figures are already envisaging a roadmap for a return. A ceasefire would bring initiatives to 'normalise' Russia, with sport near the top of the agenda. Those in football say they would expect the International Olympic Committee to go first, then the International Hockey Federation, creating the groundswell for the world's most popular sport. 'That's how the Zurich-based politics tend to go,' one senior source says, 'Olympics, then hockey, then football.' There may be another complication. What if President Donald Trump starts demanding Russia's inclusion in 'his' 2026 World Cup, co-hosted with Canada and Mexico, long after qualification has started?
