In a surprising turn of events, Brazil’s bid for the 2027 Women’s World Cup has been ranked higher than Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium in a FIFA evaluation report. The FIFA Congress is set to vote on the two bids at its meeting in Bangkok on May 17th. This will mark the first time that members of the soccer governing body will have an open vote to determine the tournament’s hosts.
According to technical evaluations conducted by FIFA, Brazil’s bid received an average score of 4.0 out of 5, while the joint European bid received a score of 3.7. Both bids were deemed to meet the minimum hosting requirements, which include stadium capacity, infrastructure, and logistics. Last week saw both the United States and Mexico withdraw their joint bid for the tournament, with U.S Soccer announcing their focus on hosting in 2031 instead. South Africa dropped its bid last year as well, stating they would aim for 2031 instead.
Brazil has previously hosted men’s World Cup tournaments in 1950 and 2014 but has never hosted a women’s World Cup before. Germany hosted it in 2011 while Australia and New Zealand co-hosted it in 2023 marking the first time that it was held by two nations. With only one more tournament remaining until we reach the next decade of world cup competition, it remains to be seen which country will emerge victorious in this race for hosting rights