FIFA Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis urged the 75th FIFA Congress in Paraguay to “create opportunities and unlock dreams for young footballers all over the world” to keep the women’s game growing rapidly. The FIFA Council last week unanimously decided to expand the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ from 32 to 48 teams as of the 2031 edition – matching the new format of the men’s flagship tournament that is set for its debut in 2026.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced this week in Saudi Arabia the goal of creating USD 1 billion in revenue from future editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which would be fully reinvested into the women’s game to maintain the impressive momentum created by the transformational FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™. “Investing in women’s football is a smart, strategic business decision. The women’s game is growing rapidly, the audience is here, the talent is here. What we need now more than ever is your full commitment,” FIFA’s Chief Football Officer told FIFA Member Association (MA) representatives at the FIFA Congress held in Asunción. “Champions don’t rest on their wins, they build on them. While each of us is chasing a different goal, what unites us is a drive to keep improving, to be better tomorrow than we are today. And as caretakers of the game, it’s down to us to create opportunities and unlock dreams for young footballers all over the world. So let’s not wait for the future, let’s build it together. One day better, one day at a time.”

In terms of further building women’s football across the world, the FIFA Women’s Development Programme has recently been extended until 2027 and expanded as the eight existing development programmes will be joined by five more, while the updated FIFA Women’s Football Strategy: 2024-2027 continue to drive a close collaboration with MAs. Commercially, for the 2027 tournament in Brazil – the first FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in South America – and the 2031 competition (which pending future FIFA Congress approval) will be staged in the Concacaf region, FIFA and Netflix have already signed a historic agreement for exclusive rights to broadcast matches in the United States.

While FIFA will continue to demand a fair commercial deal for women’s football, on the pitch, the Women’s International Match Calendar 2026-2029 – approved by the FIFA Council in May last year – was the result of close collaboration with all stakeholders, notably players, who were at the forefront of its development and design. The next four-year cycle also includes two new club competitions following the FIFA Council’s approval of the quadrennial FIFA Women’s Club World Cup™ – with the first edition in 2028 – and the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup™, an annual tournament featuring the six continental champions that will be played every non-FIFA Women’s Club World Cup year from 2026.

There will also be the expanded 16-team Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, which was approved by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee in April this year, in line with a formal FIFA request made before the 2024 Paris Games. With a record 196 teams currently in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Rankings, the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™ to take place in the Philippines later this year, and the expanded and annual FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™ along with the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ also being staged in 2025, women’s football is booming at club and international level, and across all categories.

Thanks to FIFA’s strategic planning, FIFA will organise over 100 matches per season across the five major women’s tournaments between 2025 and 2027, up from 42 matches in the two-year period directly before Mr Infantino became FIFA President in 2016. “Every girl can now dream of not just representing her country but also her club on the world stage,” said Ms Ellis. “Every decision you make can create opportunity and propel growth. That’s why what happens in this room matters. We have the power to open doors and keep them open.”