LOS ANGELES — U.S. Soccer is formulating a bid for the 2031 Girls’s World Cup that might embrace proposals to stage some video games in different international locations all through North, Central America and the Caribbean, three individuals accustomed to the plans instructed Yahoo Sports activities this week.
The ; the query is whether or not it should accomplish that alone or collectively with regional companions. Discussions stay ongoing forward of upcoming deadlines to formally specific and affirm curiosity to FIFA.
However the more and more seemingly reply, these three sources indicated, is that the U.S.-led bid will loop in a number of nations from CONCACAF, the soccer confederation that stretches from Canada right down to Panama and out into the Caribbean.
U.S. Soccer initially stated that it will bid collectively with Mexico. The 2 North American neighbors had beforehand bid collectively for the 2027 Girls’s World Cup. They then and they’d “as a substitute deal with bidding to host the event in 2031.”
However over the previous 12 months, plans have developed. A conventional joint bid has morphed into novel proposals that may convey the overwhelming majority of video games to the States, however a small handful to smaller international locations — akin to, say, Costa Rica and Jamaica — as effectively.
Regardless of the precise development, the bid will probably be a heavy favourite after FIFA, soccer’s international governing physique, introduced that . That opaque determination — vaguely justified by continental rotation, and mixed with a choice to limit 2035 internet hosting rights to Europe and Africa — left the U.S. and its regional companions with just a few semi-realistic rivals within the seemingly rigged race to host the event.
Two sources stated they anticipate South Africa to launch a bid, but it surely’s unclear if that may be for 2031 or the 2035 version (for which a joint United Kingdom bid is closely favored).
FIFA management clearly prefers the U.S.-led bid for 2031, and there’s a likelihood it should proceed unchallenged.
That would depart months and years for FIFA, U.S. Soccer, U.S. cities, U.S. stadiums and their counterparts in different CONCACAF international locations to iron out what, precisely, the event would seem like; and the place, precisely, it will likely be held. (Though formal expressions of curiosity are due inside weeks, the idea is that the checklist of potential co-hosts may nonetheless evolve after that deadline.)
CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani — who serves as a FIFA vice chairman and key powerbroker inside international soccer’s strongest ruling physique, — confirmed the continuing discussions Thursday. Talking to Yahoo Sports activities and others at an business convention right here in Los Angeles, he additionally stated he “100%” supported “a regional bid.”
“I want to see maybe a possible Caribbean [host], a possible Central America [host],” Montagliani stated. “So, over and above only a North American World Cup.”
“Clearly, there’s some realities with that, as a result of not each nation has the infrastructure to host a Girls’s World Cup,” he clarified. “However, I believe we’re open minded on that.
“Everyone knows the U.S. is a really sturdy candidate, even when they went on their very own. However I believe these discussions are being had by U.S. Soccer, by Mexico, and others as effectively. And CONCACAF is at that desk. And clearly, no matter we determine, we’re gonna help [the bid] 100%. And hopefully we are able to win it.”
