FIFA: Brazil bid leads Europe for ’27 Women’s WC

Brazil has moved ahead of a joint Germany-Belgium-Netherlands bid to stage the 2027 Women’s World Cup after being given a higher rating by FIFA’s technical inspection team ahead of next week’s vote to decide the host nation of the event.

With a joint United States-Mexico bid being withdrawn last month in order to focus on submitting a bid for the 2031 tournament, the race to stage the next edition of the competition — Spain were crowned world champions for the first time by winning the 2023 World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand — will be decided by an open vote of FIFA’s 211 member nations at FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 17.

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Although the European bid had been regarded as the favourite to win the hosting rights for 2027, Brazil is now in pole position after being awarded a score of 4.0 out of 5 in its technical evaluation compared to the 3.7 total awarded to the Germany-Belgium-Netherlands bid.

The Brazilian bid, which plans to use 10 of the venues which hosted the men’s World Cup in 2014, outscored its European rival in three of four evaluation categories including accommodation, fan festival venues and stadia, with the European bid only beating Brazil in the area of team and referee facilities.

To further mark down the Germany-Belgium-Netherlands bid, the evaluation team highlighted its legal and contractual framework as “high-risk” in the 92-page report.

All 211 of the FIFA member associations will be given a free vote on the host selection next week. If Brazil wins the bidding process, it will become the first South American nation to host the Women’s World Cup.