Governing agency, UK Sport, has revealed its aspirations for holding future sporting competitions across the nation in the next 15 years, with 70 events across 32 sports being targeted.
One event UK Sport are particularly eyeing is the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as the competition has never taken place in the nation through its nine editions, since first taking place in 1991.
UK Sport are targeting one of the World Cup’s in the 2030’s, with 2031 being the earliest edition to try and secure hosting duties for. The 2027 World Cup hosts have not yet been decided and features three bids, including one from Europe, with Belgium, Germany and Netherlands.
Mexico and United States are bidding together, whilst Brazil are also looking to host the next tournament. If the European bid succeeds in securing hosting rights for the 2027 edition when the decision is announced by FIFA Congress on 17th May, then it will eliminate the UK’s chances of hosting the World Cup in 2031 and 2035 will be the next possible chance to do so.
Deputy CEO of UK Sport, Simon Morton, touched on the agency’s desire to finally bring the Women’s World Cup to the UK. He stated: “The Women’s World Cup is the biggest sporting event that the UK has never hosted and so in that respect, it has a special appeal to us. There is definitely an aspiration to host it in the 2030s.”
Considering Britain’s large presence on the sporting stage for many decades, it will come as a surprise to many that it has never hosted the Women’s World Cup and hosted the men’s FIFA World Cup just once, way back in 1966 when England triumphed in a home tournament.
The men’s World Cup has notably been left out of UK Sport’s targeted events list. This may be due to Britain having already secured hosting rights for the 2028 UEFA European Championship and the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup’s already being decided.
It may also be tough for the UK to navigate the hosting of a potential Women’s World Cup and men’s World Cup within a matter of years.
Britain has recent experience of hosting a major women’s football tournament as the 2022 European Championship took place in England. Here, the hosts went on to win its first ever major trophy after beating Germany in extra-time in the final.
The Lionesses’ success was witnessed by many as coverage of the final in the UK on BBC One drew a peak viewing audience of 17.4 million. Also, the final was attended by a record crowd for a men’s or women’s Euro final, as 87,192 fans witnessed the match at Wembley Stadium.
That tournament is viewed as a major breakthrough moment in taking women’s football in the UK to extraordinary heights and helping grow the game further. The Women’s Super League has also garnered greater interest since the last Euro’s as more teams have begun to play at its male counterparts’ stadiums on some occasions.
The Lionesses built on its Euro’s success as Sarina Wiegman’s side reached the final of the last World Cup, with a peak viewing audience in the UK of 12 million watching the side’s defeat to Spain.
Evidently, there has been repeat interest in women’s football over the last few years and it makes much sense for UK Sport to capitalise on this growth and sustain that into the next decade.
Among the other events which UK Sport is looking to host within the next 15 years are the 2029 or 2031 World Athletics Championships, the 2030 Solheim Cup, the 2031 or 2035 Ryder Cup and the 2035 or 2039 men’s Rugby World Cup.
UK Sports is also keen to step into the modern landscape of sport and are interested in hosting an E-Sports event in 2025.
Morton revealed why UK Sport has pinpointed an array of sporting events to host in the future. He explained: “We want to host a programme of live sport that resonates with the British public. The events identified have the potential to deliver approximately £5bn of economic impact, across 20 locations, for over 15 million fans.”
The UK Sport deputy CEO added: “Live sport is a fundamental part of this country’s social fabric. Our love of live sport is unsurpassed. No other country buys more tickets to major sporting events per head than we do in the UK.”
Major sporting events confirmed to take place in Britain in the next couple of years include the 2024 UEFA Champions League final, the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the 2026 European Athletic Championships and the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
