Talking about history, the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991 featured 12 teams before the number of teams rose to 16 in 1999 and 24 in 2015.
Players of the United States celebrate after the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup final between the United States and the Netherlands in Lyon, France, on July 7, 2019. The United States claimed the title after defeating the Netherlands 2-0. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)
From the next edition onwards of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, a total of 32 teams will be competing for the coveted trophy.
This comes after the FIFA Council, on Wednesday, unanimously agreed to a proposal to expand the number of teams taking part in the World Cup from 24 to 32. The new-format quadrennial tournament will have eight groups of four teams each.
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“The astounding success of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France made it very clear that this is the time to keep the momentum going and take concrete steps to foster the growth of women’s football,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
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“The expansion reaches far beyond the eight additional participating teams; it means that, from now on, dozens more member associations will organise their women’s football program knowing they have a realistic chance of qualifying,” he added.
Since the bidding process for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is already underway − with the nine bidders initially expected to submit their bid books by 4 October 2019 – the FIFA Council exceptionally made this decision remotely, and not at one of its meetings, the next of which is scheduled for 23-24 October in Shanghai.
After the deadline for bid submission in December, publication of Bid Evaluation Report is expected in April 2020, with an expected appointment of hosts the following month.
Talking about history, the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991 featured 12 teams before the number of teams rose to 16 in 1999 and 24 in 2015.
Talking about the recently concluded Women’s World Cup, the US defeated Netherlands 2-0 in the finals to come out as champions for the second time in a row, their 4th title overall (1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019).
(With inputs from IANS)
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