Brazilian bid trumps European and North American rivals to seal the first South American Women’s World Cup
After a vote that was more of a coronation than an election, Brazil will host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, making it the second successive southern hemisphere women’s finals and the first in South America.
The decision had been widely expected once the joint USA-Mexico bid withdrew 18 days prior. Though always unlikely to win given the finals were sandwiched by the 2026 men’s World Cup co-hosted with Canada and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the late withdrawal suggested they had been given the word.
That left only the joint Belgium-Netherlands-Germany (BNG) bid as Brazil’s competition, but rumours quickly spread that they were also wasting their time – and that seemed to be confirmed when FIFA’s evaluation report unexpectedly scored Brazil higher. Sure enough, the Brazilian bid claimed the win with 119 votes to 78.
“Congratulations to Brazil,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “We will have the best World Cup in Brazil.”
What is not in dispute is the tournament has the potential to leave a far greater legacy in South America than in Europe. Although Brazil, like many countries, banned women’s football for decades in the 20th century, they were subsequently one of the first nations to make an impact. They reached the semi-finals at the third World Cup in 1999, the final in 2007, and produced the game’s first global superstar in Marta.
Brazil continues to produce star players – in April, Houston Dash more than doubled the world-record fee for a defender, paying a reported $500,000 to Corinthians for Tarciane – but the national team has been left behind by Europe’s advance. They failed to make the quarter-finals in 2015 and 2019, and were knocked out in the group stage in 2023.
Other South American nations have made little impression. Only Colombia have made the quarter-finals, at the third attempt in 2023. Argentina are yet to get past the group stage in four finals, while Chile and Ecuador failed to escape the group stage on their solitary appearances. In 2023 qualifying, Chile and Paraguay were knocked out by Haiti and Panama respectively.
These results are unsurprising. The continent has been beset by stories of players being poorly paid and inadequately resourced. In December 2023 the South American branch of FIFPro, the players union, released a survey of 1,100 top-division players based in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Less than a quarter were full-time professional footballers, with the rest combining playing with workin
