First time in South America: Brazil picked by FIFA to host football’s 2027 Women's World Cup

Brazil was declared host of the 2027 Women's World Cup after winning a vote at the annual FIFA Congress on Friday, beating the joint bid of Belgium, Netherlands and Germany to become the first South American country picked to stage the tournament.

Brazil won with 119 votes versus 78 for the joint European entry, boosted by a technical evaluation from world governing body FIFA that gave a high score for its commercial plan and stadiums purpose-built for the 2014 Men's World Cup.

"We knew we would be celebrating a victory for South American women's soccer and for women," said Ednaldo Rodrigues, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation. "You can be sure, with no vanity, we will accomplish the best World Cup for women."

It will be the first time the global women's tournament, first played in 1991, is staged in South America.

Brazil was strongly favoured to win since October when FIFA brokered deals for the men's World Cups of 2030 and 2034. It left South American neighbors Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay getting just one game each of the 104 in the 2030 tournament that will be mostly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

President Ednaldo Rodrigues is surrounded by his delegation as he makes a speech during the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok. AFP

The Congress in Bangkok heard a call by FIFA for all members to implement mandatory sanctions to tackle racist abuse.

There was also a Palestinian proposal to suspend the Israel Football Association (IFA), accusing it of multiple violations of FIFA statutes, including over the war in Gaza and inclusion in Israel's leagues of teams located in Palestinian territory.

'RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY'

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said an urgent legal assessment of the Palestinian allegations would be undertaken and the FIFA Council would convene an extraordinary Congress in late July to address the issue.

He said he was extremely shocked by both the Oct.7 attack and the devastation in Gaza, adding: "I pray for all those people who suffer unimaginably."

The president of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), Jibril Rajoub, had accused the IFA of racism and discrimination, in a proposal that alleged complicity in its failure to condemn the operations in Gaza. The IFA rejected that.

"FIFA cannot afford to remain indifferent to these violations or the ongoing genocide in Palestine," Rajoub told the Congress. "I ask you to stand on the right side of history... If not now, when?"

TRANSFORMATIVE BID

The vote on the Women's World Cup had been whittled down to two candidates after the United States and Mexico withdrew to pursue the 2031 tournament instead.

Brazil had scored 4.0 out of 5 compared to 3.7 for Belgium-Netherlands-Germany in the FIFA evaluation, which had highlighted the European bid's compactness, solid commercial viability and short distances between venues, but noted smaller capacities of its 13 stadiums.

Brazil soccer chief Rodrigues said the win was the result of conviction, not lobbying. "We were not campaigning, asking for votes. We were working to give FIFA what it needed," he said.

Gianni Infantino (L) hugs Ednaldo Rodrigues as he announces Brazil are to be the hosts of the 2027 Women's World Cup in Bangkok. AFP

The bid's operational manager Valesca Araujo said the aim was to boost women's soccer in South America, which was underdeveloped and had huge potential.

"The concept we presented went beyond a sports tournament. We worked for a transformation," she said. "Now we have to celebrate. It's a great achievement for South America."

FIFA vowed to be tough on racism with a call for strict measures to be implemented by all member over instances of abuse, including forfeiting of matches, and introducing racism as an offence in players' disciplinary codes.

It advocates suspending or abandoning games plus the introduction of a global standard gesture for players to inform referees of racist abuse.

"If it is a problem of society and society can't deal with it, let's deal with it in football once and for all," Infantino said.

Infantino also weighed in on what he called a "futile debate" over the volume of matches played globally, arguing FIFA organised about 1% of club games and just 1% to 2% of national team matches.

He reminded delegates that most FIFA members "would have no football without the resources" FIFA provides. "I hope these figures will show that we should probably stop this futile debate, it's really pointless, and focus on what we need to do," he said.

Reuters