History UsefulNotes / TheWorldCup

The next women's edition will expand to 48 teams, matching the men's edition. As of April 29, 2024, active bids are a solo bid by Brazil and a joint bid between Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. The US and Mexico had submitted a bid, but pulled out in favor of a 2031 bid.

The next women's edition will expand to 48 teams, matching the men's edition. As of April 29, 2024, active bids are a solo bid by Brazil and a joint bid between Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. The US and Mexico had submitted a bid, but pulled out in favor of a 2031 bid, noting that the 2027 event was sandwiched between the US/Mexico/Canada men's World Cup in 2026 and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

-->This will be the first edition since 2022 to have a sole host. Saudi Arabia was announced as host on October 31, 2023, the deadline for 2034 hosting bids, as it was the only country that submitted a bid. Due to the prior two World Cups being held in four of FIFA's continental zones (2026: CONCACAF; 2030: UEFA, CAF, CONMEBOL), only bids from AFC or OFC countries were allowed. ''The New York Times'' reported that FIFA's president had heavily greased the rails for a Saudi bid, entering into back-channel talks with Saudi authorities, and presumably influencing FIFA to (1) add the three South American countries to the 2030 bid (taking out CONMEBOL from consideration) and (2) speed up the bidding process for 2034, giving interested countries less than 30 days to submit bids. This gave Saudi Arabia a huge advantage, as it had submitted a 2030 bid but pulled out after the announcement of the Iberia–Morocco bid. This edition is highly likely to be held in the same November/December time frame as the 2022 edition in Qatar.

-->'''Cities:''' To be determined; potential locations include Abha, Buraidah, Dammam, Ḥaʼil, Hofuf, Khobar, Jeddah, Najran, Neom, UsefulNotes/Riyadh, Qatif, Qiddiyah, and Taif\\

-->This will be the first edition since 2022 to have a sole host. Saudi Arabia was announced as host on October 31, 2023, the deadline for 2034 hosting bids, as it was the only country that submitted a bid. Due to the prior two World Cups being held in four of FIFA's continental zones (2026: CONCACAF; 2030: UEFA, CAF, CONMEBOL), only bids from AFC or OFC countries were allowed. ''The New York Times'' reported that FIFA's president had heavily greased the rails for a Saudi bid, entering into back-channel talks with Saudi authorities, and presumably influencing FIFA to (1) add the three South American countries to the 2030 bid (taking out CONMEBOL from consideration) and (2) sped up the bidding process for 2034, giving interested countries less than 30 days to submit bids. Saudi Arabia had bid for 2030, but pulled out after the announcement of the Iberia–Morocco bid. This edition is highly likely to be held in the same November/December time frame as the 2022 edition in Qatar.

-->This will be the first edition since 2022 to have a sole host. Saudi Arabia was announced as host on October 31, 2023, the deadline for 2034 hosting bids, as it was the only country that submitted a bid. Due to the prior two World Cups being held in four of FIFA's continental zones (2026: CONCACAF; 2030: UEFA, CAF, CONMEBOL), only bids from AFC or OFC countries were allowed. ''The New York Times'' reported that FIFA's president had heavily greased the rails for a Saudi bid, entering into back-channel talks with Saudi authorities, and presumably influencing FIFA to (1) add the three South American countries to the 2030 bid (taking out CONMEBOL from consideration) and (2) sped up the bidding process for 2034, giving interested countries less than 30 days to submit bids. Saudi Arabia had bid for 2030, but pulled out after the announcement of the Iberia–Morocco bid.

'''Cities (USA):''' Arlington, Texas ([[UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex Dallas]]) [potential Final site] / UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, Georgia / East Rutherford, New Jersey (UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, New York) [potential Final site] / Foxborough, Massachusetts (UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}) / UsefulNotes/{{Houston}}, Texas / Inglewood, California (UsefulNotes/LosAngeles) / UsefulNotes/KansasCity, Missouri / Miami Gardens, Florida (UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}) / UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, Pennsylvania / Santa Clara, California (UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco) / UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, Washington\\

* 2030 -- UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}, UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}; matches also in UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}}, UsefulNotes/{{Paraguay}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Uruguay}}

-->Marking the 100th anniversary of the World Cup, this will be the second consecutive edition to have multiple hosts, and the first to encompass three continents. In 2023, FIFA announced that the Morocco–Portugal–Spain bid, one of two bids remaining after a couple of others dropped out, would be the primary host for 2030. The other remaining bid, a joint bid from Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, got the consolation prize of the three opening matches, one each in all of the countries except Chile.[[note]]Not only is this the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup, which was held entirely in Montevideo, but it's also the 200th anniversary of the ratification of Argentina's first constitution.[[/note]] While the two Iberian countries and Morocco are the ''official'' hosts, FIFA has announced that all six hosts will get automatic entries.

-->The first tournament held in the Middle East and the Arab world. Curiously, Qatar had never participated in the tournament before and they were the first country in ''88 years'' (since Italy 1934) to host the tournament without taking part in it before. Infamously controversial, with questions hanging over Qatar being chosen over the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia (all of which had at least moderately successful football programs, with the former three even having past hosting experience), as well as further concerns over Qatar's use of what it claims is Sharia law (i.e. Muslim law, which in most implementations for example makes homosexuality and alcohol illegal, the latter which clashes with FIFA's sponsorship with Budweiser), climate (with temperatures routinely over 50°C/122°F during summer), and the alleged use of slave labor in its migrant-heavy labor force that costed the lives of 6,500 workers. Following a report by England's ''Sunday Times'' that approximately $5 million worth of bribes were given to the voting committee by Qatari ex-FIFA Vice Grand President Mohammad bin Hammam, FIFA began an inquiry into the incident. The next development was FIFA moving the tournament dates between November and December 2022, when average high temperatures are in a much more manageable range of 24–29°C/75–85°F. In May 2015, the American government indicted various FIFA officials on charges of wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering, and Switzerland announced its own criminal investigation specifically into the accusations of bribery regarding the 2018 and 2022 host selections. In the event, Qatar lost all 3 games in a group in which they hoped they’d have a chance after their Asian Cup win in 2019, scoring just the 1 goal, becoming the second ever host nation to be eliminated in the group stage. Group B, which involved Iran drawn with England, Wales and USA, was overshadowed by civil unrest there in the prior weeks and months, which led to several players being uncomfortable with singing the national anthem. They were eliminated after losing to USA in a relatively incident-free match. Despite the distinct lack of enthusiasm towards the hosts, on the pitch it has generally been agreed to be a very entertaining World Cup, with a great deal of drama - Saudi Arabia beat Argentina, Australia shocked Denmark, Morocco topped a group including 2018 finalists Croatia and a much fancied Belgium side (which promptly went out), Ghana and Uruguay met in a grudge match from 2010 (Ghana lost but [[TakingYouWithMe took Uruguay out with them]]), and for a brief period, it looked like Japan and Costa Rica were both going through at the expense of European titans Spain and Germany. In the end, the Germans went out anyway, for the second tournament in a row, but Japan went through with Spain in second place, before going out on penalties after a heroic performance against Croatia. England and France both waltzed through the group and the Round of 16, comfortably disposing of Senegal and Poland respectively, setting up a quarter-final between two of the tournament favourites which France narrowly won. Brazil more or less eviscerated South Korea 4-1 before being edged out on penalties by a wily old Croatia side, and Portugal one-upped them by beating Switzerland 6-1. Morocco continued its surprise run, first knocking out Spain on penalties in the Round of 16 and then taking out Portugal to become the first African team ever to make the semifinals, ultimately finishing fourth after losing to Croatia in the third-place playoff. (Not only were they the first African country to make it to the semifinal, they were also only the third non-European or South American side to do so - following the USA in 1930 and South Korea (on home soil) in 2002.) The knockout stage saw an off-field tragedy when prominent American soccer journalist Grant Wahl died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm while covering Argentina–Netherlands. The US, meanwhile, performed respectably, forcing a no-score draw with England, before running headfirst into the Dutch in the Round of 16. The final of this tournament is already being considered one of the best in the competition's history - Argentina, led by iconic legendary veteran Lionel Messi, took on defending champions France (led by Kylian Mbappé, Messi's club teammate at Paris Saint-Germain and generally considered his heir apparent as the greatest active men's player) in a match that finished 3-3 after extra time (with Messi scoring 2 goals and Mbappé becoming the first man in 56 years to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final), with a penalty shootout resulting in Argentina winning their first title since 1986 and Messi winning the only trophy missing in his collection.

-->The most recent women's edition, the first with co-hosts, saw the final tournament expand to 32 teams. It was also the first Women's World Cup to be hosted in the southern hemisphere, the first FIFA senior (i.e., not age-restricted) tournament in Oceania[[labelnote:*]]That is, the first such event held in a country that's now in the Oceania Football Confederation. FIFA organizes the Olympic tournaments for both men and women, and two Games were held in Australia while that country was an OFC member. The 1956 Games in Melbourne had a men's tournament that wasn't age-restricted, but was closed to professionals (remaining so until 1984). While the men's tournament became age-restricted in 1992, the women's version, which debuted in 1996, has never been age-restricted. Australia was still an OFC member when Sydney hosted the 2000 Games, but moved to the Asian confederation in 2006.[[/labelnote]] and the first FIFA tournament of any type hosted across multiple confederations (Australia: AFC, New Zealand: OFC). The consistent usage of dual names (as a sign of respect to Indigenous Australians and Māori) in all signage, broadcasts, stadiums and online material for each host city is a World Cup first, while dedicated base camps for all participating teams (long a norm for the men's competition) were provided for the first time in Women's World Cup history. The opening stages saw a few shockers, with co-host New Zealand stunning Norway in the opener, in turn to be shocked by the debuting Philippines in their next game; Colombia upsetting Germany; and another first-timer, Morocco, winning a game and eventually reaching the round of 16. However, NZ also became the first Women's World Cup host nation (and third ever host nation overall) to exit in the group stages. This nearly befell Australia as well after their shocking loss to Nigeria - only to be averted after Australia ''thrashed'' Canada during their final group stage match, making Canada the first ever reigning Olympic champions to be eliminated in the group stage. Brazil and Germany also went out in the group stage (the latter for the first time ever), and if a stoppage-time shot by Portugal hadn't hit the post, the USWNT would have also gone out in the group stage for the first time. That proved a harbinger for the USWNT's earliest-ever exit from a major tournament, going out on penalties to Sweden in the round of 16 and leading to [[https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2023/08/01/carli-lloyd-says-uswnt-spiraling-on-world-cup-stage/70503549007/ savage]] [[https://sports.yahoo.com/didnt-saw-carli-lloyd-doubles-204740088.html criticism]] from 2015 hero-turned-commentator Carli Lloyd (among ''many'' others). The emergence of European sides was further cemented, with three of the four semifinalists coming from that continent. It ended with Spain becoming the second nation to claim men's and women's titles. The real controversy came ''after'' Spain's win—during the trophy presentation, the president of the national federation kissed one of the winning players on the lips, with the player stating it wasn't consensual. Within three weeks, the president resigned—but not until FIFA suspended him for 90 days and launched an inquiry; the entire Spain women's coaching staff apart from the head coach resigned; the head coach was fired; the federation called for the president's resignation; and more than 80 Spanish women's players, including every member of the Cup-winning squad, announced they wouldn't play for the national team again until the president left office.

'''Teams:''' 48 – Canada, Mexico, and USA return

In later years, the winners have taken to adorning their jerseys with a number of gold stars corresponding to their number of titles. Uruguay including two Olympic titles for a total of four stars ('24 & '28, the two Olympics immediately preceding the foundation of the competition). In 2010, 2014 and 2022, the winning teams (Spain, Germany and Argentina, respectively) had 'new' jerseys already prepared for their victory.