Brazil will host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, FIFA announced this Friday.
This will be the first Women’s World Cup hosted in South America, but it will be the third time that Brazil will host a World Cup. It hosted the men’s tournament in 2014 and 1950.
“In Brazil, there are still many problems for women who play football, so this will have a direct impact on the rise of football players, the number of football players, the incentives that parents can give their children to play football”, said Brazilian legend Rosana, for FIFA. “It will have a tremendous impact and I hope it really allows girls to dream of becoming professional football players, just as boys can dream. It is a great achievement and a foundation for all women to aspire to be what they want to be.”
Why was Brazil chosen to host the 2027 FIFA World Cup?
The FIFA Congress had to decide between Brazil and a joint candidacy from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Ultimately, he chose Brazil on Friday.
FIFA Application Evaluation Report released earlier this month concluded that both proposals met minimum requirements – although Brazil received the highest evaluation score – and could be brought before the 211 members of Congress to vote on the host, according to ESPN.
The site’s capacity may have tipped the scales in Brazil’s favor. Brazil’s bid “offers good purpose-built stadiums generally configured for major international football tournaments,” according to the evaluation report.
The stadiums included in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany’s bid “have relatively smaller capacities, which would mean they would need to be at high occupancy if they were to eclipse the attendance records set for the 2023 edition of the tournament,” said the report. report said.
The 2023 World Cup was the Women’s World Cup with the highest attendance, with 1.98 million fans watching the games, according to data Women’s sports only.
Two other proposals were in contention before being withdrawn.
The U.S. and Mexico withdrew their joint bid three weeks ago and will instead focus on their bid to host the 2031 World Cup, as the Deseret News previously reported. South Africa withdrew its bid in November and also intends to throw its hat in the ring for the 2031 tournament.
Why did Brazil ban women from playing sports?
In 1941, Getúlio Vargas, then president of Brazil, approved a law that made it illegal for women to participate in organized sports that were “incompatible with the conditions of their nature,” according to The economic times.
“We have former football players who were arrested because they played football and it was these players who, with courage and determination, overcame these prohibitions and gained freedom, so that today I and so many other girls have the freedom to play football. without these prohibitions,” Brazilian legend Formiga said, according to FIFA.
It took almost four decades for the law to be repealed in 1979. The Brazilian men’s team had won three World Cups during the ban. The women’s team has yet to win the World Cup, but finished second in 2007 and third in 1999, according to Olympics.com.
“I feel like this is a reward: having the opportunity to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup, each of them has a role in making it happen,” said Formiga. “Because I didn’t suffer half of what they suffered. So today is the result of what they all did for women’s football, not only in Brazil, but around the world.”
