FA and US Soccer seek more control from Fifa over Women’s World Cups

The Football Association and US Soccer Federation have joined forces to lobby Fifa to alter its proposed organisational model for the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups.

Both federations are understood to be seeking more local control after concerns that have arisen over the organisation of this summer’s men’s World Cup, particularly regarding the cost of tickets and financial disputes with some US state and city authorities.

US Soccer and the FA are, respectively, the sole bidders for the 2031 and 2035 World Cups, which will be allocated by Fifa at an extraordinary general meeting in November.

The US bid involves matches also being staged in Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica, and the FA is leading a joint bid with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

US Soccer sources said they had been encouraged by Fifa’s willingness to listen to their concerns during initial conversations.

Fifa altered its decades-long World Cup model after the 2022 tournament in Qatar to take control of operations and delivery for this summer’s competition in the US, Canada and Mexico. Previously this was the responsibility of the local organising committee (Loc), a joint venture with the hosts.

Under the new model Fifa is responsible for broadcast rights, sponsorship and ticket sales and keeps the revenue, and host venues and cities are charged with paying for “safety, security and protection”, which has led to tension. In addition to widespread complaints over ticket prices that rise to $10,990 (£8,100) for the final, there have been problems between Fifa and US cities in particular over ancillary costs.

The New Jersey governor, Mikie Sherrill, has been strongly critical of Fifa for failing to contribute to transportation costs, after NJ Transit caused outrage by revealing it will charge $150 (£110) for a round trip from Manhattan to the New York New Jersey Stadium.

Escalating costs have also led to many cities cancelling or scaling back their commitment to host official Fifa fan festivals, with only Philadelphia and Houston fulfilling Fifa’s original brief of staging a 39-day festival that covers the whole tournament.

The FA and US Soccer are understood to have argued that such issues have been exacerbated by Fifa’s failure to understand the local market, and would like to have a greater say over how the tournaments are run.

Uefa operates the Loc model to run the European Championship, with a delivery company, UK & Ireland 2028 Limited, set up to run Euro 2028. The FA would like that reintroduced for the Women’s World Cup.

There is particular concern at the FA over Fifa’s bullish approach to ticket prices and adoption of variable pricing.

The FA has worked with Uefa to freeze ticket prices for Euro 2028 from the previous tournament in Germany, with 40% of tickets to be made available in the two “Fans First” cheapest categories, costing less than £30 and less than £60.

The FA and US Soccer declined to comment.

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