São Paulo, Brazil – The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), the country’s main soccer body, on April 14 announced the country’s candidacy to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, the largest stage for women’s professional soccer. Brazil has hosted two Men’s World Cups, in 1950 and 2014, but has never hosted a women’s tournament.
“With all the sports equipment and infrastructure we have, we believe we will have a beautiful World Cup. Hosting the World Cup is part of our project to increasingly develop women’s football across the country,” said CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues when signing the bid that was sent to FIFA, soccer’s global governing body.
On March 30, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared the Federal Government’s support for Brazil’s candidacy to host the Women’s World Cup. The statement was given during a presentation event for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which will be played in July, in Australia and New Zealand.
“The government, through the presidency, the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be available to CBF to do whatever is necessary so that we can bring, in 2027, the Women’s World Cup to Brazil,” said Lula.
According to the president, hosting the tournament in the country will be important for building a political awareness among the Brazilian people “about the participation of women in every corner where they can and want to participate, where they want, the way they want.”
Ana Moser, an Olympic volleyball champion and Brazil’s Minister of Sport, said the proposal to host the Women’s World Cup is part of a strategy to structure women’s soccer in the country. Women’s soccer has been growing in recent years, including the addition of more professional teams and competitions, but still counts far less investment, organization, and visibility than men’s soccer.
A recent study pointed out, for example, that male players earn up to 118% more than female players. While the payroll of the big clubs in São Paulo, the largest state in the country, can reach R$ 10 million per month (USD $2 million), expenses with the women’s teams are, on average, R$ 10,000 per month (USD $2,000).
Among her initiatives, the minister aims to increase the number of women’s soccer leagues and tournaments in Brazil, drive participation among young Brazilian girls, invest in training infrastructure, and provide more support for female athlete mothers and expecting mothers.
What happens now?
In March, FIFA launched the bid submission process to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Countries interested in hosting the competition have until May 19 to submit their projects to FIFA. Applications must be confirmed by December 8 of this year.
FIFA highlighted three new points in the process of choosing the host country:
An independent audit to monitor the fairness of the process.
A task force to evaluate the proposals presented.
And a final vote among the candidates with the highest evaluations.
In May of 2024, FIFA will select up to three of the top candidates to go to a runoff vote to decide who will host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, with the host country expected to be confirmed on May 17, 2024.
In addition to Brazil, Germany, Holland and Belgium, in a joint bid, and South Africa have already indicated their interest in hosting the tournament.
About women’s football in Brazil
The first Brazilian women’s soccer championship was only created in 2013 – the same tournament for men has been played since 1971.
In 2019, following FIFA’s guidance, the CBF ordered that all teams in the first division of the Brazilian male tournament also have female teams, both professional and youth.
The measure was important for the growth of women’s football as it forced the largest teams in the country to invest in the women’s side of the sport. And the returns are growing each year: Women’s teams already have sponsorships from large companies and attract more and more people to the stadiums.
In September 2022, for example, more than 41,000 people watched a women’s soccer game in São Paulo, in which the Corinthians team won the Brazilian championship. It was the largest attendance recorded for a women’s game in all of South America.
The press has also been paying more attention to women’s football and games are being broadcast on television. In 2019, the country’s largest broadcaster, TV Globo, broadcast the Women’s World Cup for the first time. The same will be done in the 2023 tournament.
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