U.S. Selected to Host Inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2028

FIFA has confirmed that its inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup will be hosted in the United States in 2028, three years after the revamped men’s competition launched there.

The tournament, which will be staged from January 5—30, 2028, will feature 19 of the best women’s club teams competing across all six confederations: UEFA (Europe), Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceania).

It was originally scheduled to begin in early 2026, but was postponed for two years after stakeholders called for more preparation time.

No cities have yet been confirmed to host games during the tournament, although multiple reports have so far suggested that Los Angeles and San Diego are under consideration.

Last year, the United States hosted the first FIFA Men’s Club World Cup in its expanded format, featuring 32 teams from all six global confederations (up from just seven teams in the previous edition in Saudi Arabia in 2023). It effectively replaced the Confederations Cup in the summer slot the year before the upcoming FIFA Men’s World Cup, although the Confederations Cup was played with national teams as opposed to club teams.

The United States also co-hosted this summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, in a similar format that expanded from 32 to 48 national teams. The United States is also due to host the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup with Jamaica and Costa Rica, after the first edition in South America (Brazil) next summer.

RELATED: Highlights for each host city from the 2026 World Cup

Format

A play-in phase featuring six teams will mark the start of the Women’s Club World Cup, with the three winners joining 13 other clubs in the group stage. At that point, there will be four groups of four clubs, with the top two advancing from each group to the knockout stage.

UEFA (Europe) will have five direct slots and one play-in slot, while four other confederations (AFC, CAF, Concacaf and CONMEBOL) have each been granted two direct qualification slots and one play-in slot. OFC (Oceania) has just one play-in slot to qualify for the tournament.

For FIFA, the goal is to strike the right balance between competitive quality and global representation, rewarding sporting performance by prioritizing continental champions from 2024 to 2027.

Qualification and Confirmed Teams

There are specific routes for clubs to qualify for the 2028 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.

In UEFA, access to the tournament is granted to the winners of the confederation’s premier club competition (the UEFA Women’s Champions League) between 2024 and 2027. Additional places can also be granted to teams based on their club rankings (i.e. the best-performing clubs over that period that do not win the Champions League) if one club wins multiple editions of the Champions League.

In the remaining confederations, the winners of each confederation’s premier club competition between 2024 and 2027 will also qualify for the 2028 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. And as before with UEFA, if one club wins multiple editions of its continental premier club competition over the three-year period, the remaining slots will be allocated to clubs based on their club ranking.

The following teams have secured their places at the inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2028 via various qualifying routes:

• Wuhan Jiangda WFC (China — AFC Women’s Champions League 2024/25 winners)
• Naegohyang Women’s FC (North Korea — AFC Women’s Champions League 2025/26 winners)
• Gotham FC (USA — Concacaf W Champions Cup 2024/25 winners)
• Club America Femenil (Mexico — Concacaf W Champions Cup 2025/26 winners)
• SC Corinthians (Brazil — CONMEBOL Libertadores 2025 winners)
• Arsenal Women FC (England — UEFA Women’s Champions League 2024/25 winners)
• FC Barcelona Femeni (Spain — UEFA Women’s Champions League 2025/26 winners)
• Cruzeiro (Brazil — CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores Femenina 2026 winners)

2025 FIFA Men’s Club World Cup

The revamped FIFA Men’s Club World Cup featured 32 teams from all six confederations competing across 63 matches from June 14 through July 13, 2025.

Games were played across 12 venues in 11 host cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; New York New Jersey; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, D.C. Five of the venues featured at the tournament were also utilized during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has announced that the organization would make a legacy contribution of $1 million to each of the 11 host cities, and $1 billion in prize money was distributed among the 32 competing clubs, including solidarity payments and allocations to each confederation.

Chelsea (England) defeated Paris Saint-Germain (France) 3-0 in the final at the MetLife Stadium (known as New York New Jersey Stadium during FIFA competitions) to claim its second FIFA Club World Cup title and the first under the new format.

Expansion

Following the success of the expanded FIFA Men’s Club World Cup and the FIFA Men’s World Cup, both the FIFA Men’s and Women’s Club World Cups are set for further expansion and will take place on at least a four-year cycle.

It has been suggested that the next men’s competition in 2029 may increase to 48 teams, the same number the World Cup expanded to this summer. A host nation has yet to be confirmed, although Australia, Brazil, England, Germany, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Portugal, Qatar, Spain and the United States have been touted as possible bidders.

Likewise, the second edition of the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup, potentially in 2032, may increase to 32 or 48 clubs.

“We undertook a detailed assessment to identify the most suitable host for the inaugural edition of the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup,” FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer Dame Sarai Bareman said about the launch of the women’s competition. “Ultimately, the United States’ recent excellence in staging top FIFA tournaments, combined with the significant interest in women’s football there plus its elite sporting infrastructure, made the country the standout option.”

“Alongside the vibrant and passionate women’s football ecosystem in the United States, the qualified clubs, government, host cities, our commercial and media partners and more, our mission will be to set an impressive standard for global women’s club football and a benchmark for the future.”
However, leagues such as the Women’s Super League in England have described the scheduling of the Club World Cup in January 2028 as potentially “catastrophic” to player welfare and the structure of the season. The WSL’s season typically lasts from September through May, and the scheduling of an international club tournament midway through the season would inevitably require the introduction of a mid-season break of at least one month.

FIFA has confirmed that it will review the tournament’s future format, access framework and scheduling after the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup in 2028.

2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Brazil will host South America’s first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027. The tournament will feature 32 nations for the second time, with six direct slots for AFC, four direct slots each for CAF and Concacaf, four direct slots for CONMEBOL, one direct slot for OFC, and 11 direct slots for UEFA.

Brazil has already qualified automatically as the host nation, and 17 other nations have also confirmed their qualification: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Malawi, Morocco, New Zealand, North Korea, Philippines, South Korea and Spain.

Eight host cities — Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília, Porto Alegre, Recife, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, and Salvador — will host 64 matches from June 24 through July 25, 2027. The Final Draw will take place on December 11 at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, also known as MAM Rio.

FIFA’s Bureau of the Council has already approved the distribution of $2.5 million in preparation money to each participating member association at the tournament, which is the same amount granted to teams at the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Previously, each participating member association at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was granted $960,000.

The global governing body for soccer added that 2027 Women’s World Cup players would “enjoy the same service levels as their male counterparts in 2026” and that any surplus money would “have a specific amount ring-fenced for players.”