2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup

2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup
Tournament details
Host countryTBA
Dates5–30 January
Teams19 (from 6 confederations)
2032 →

The 2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup is the planned inaugural edition of the FIFA Women's Club World Cup, an international women's association football club competition organized by FIFA. It is scheduled to be contested by 19 teams from 5 to 30 January 2028.[1] The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in early 2026 but was delayed by two years.

Background and format

FIFA initially announced plans to establish a global women's club competition in May 2021.[2] It would be structured similarly to the men's Club World Cup, which was scheduled to become a quadrennial tournament beginning with the 2025 edition. The FIFA Council approved the updated women's football calendar at the 74th FIFA Congress held in Bangkok in May 2024, which included the inaugural Women's Club World Cup in early 2026.[3] The first edition of the quadrennial tournament was to be played in January and February 2026 and involve 16 teams.[4]

In March 2025, the FIFA Council moved the inaugural Women's Club World Cup to 2028 and expanded it to 19 teams. They also created a new annual Women's Champions Cup to begin in the January/February 2026 slot and take place in the three years between Club World Cups.[5][6] The two-year delay followed a lack of progress in announced plans for the inaugural tournament, which had yet to have a host, sponsors, or television broadcasters announced.[7]

Six clubs will participate in the play-in stage where they are paired up. Each pair plays a match and the three winners will advance to the group stage to join 13 other teams who have qualified directly. In the group stage, the teams are put into four groups of four. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals.[6][8]

In January 2026, it was reported that Qatar was in talks to host the tournament.[9] Outlets such as The Guardian and The New York Times noted that the Qatar women's national football team, which was created in 2009 as Qatar was preparing to bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, has not had an official match in 12 years, and was not ranked by FIFA.[9] When asked about the team by the Times in 2022 and in 2026, including on whether the team "still exists, if it falls under the QFA umbrella, what funding and development plans are in place and their upcoming fixture schedule", Qatari officials from various agencies did not reply.[10][11] Both outlets also noted that the choice was likely to attract criticism and controversy based on Qatar's human rights record, especially on LGBTQ issues, as was the case with the 2022 World Cup.[12][11]

Slot allocation

Location of the non-UEFA teams participating in the 2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup

The slot allocation for the inaugural edition will be as follows:[6]

Confederation Direct slots Play-in slots
AFC21
CAF21
CONCACAF21
CONMEBOL21
OFC01
UEFA51
Total136

Qualified teams

FIFA are yet to announce the access list for the tournament.[9] It is expected that qualification will be based on the confederations' club championships and club coefficients.[13]

Qualified (stage not yet known)
Confederation Team Qualification Qualified date Ref.
AFC China Wuhan Jiangda Winners of the 2024–25 AFC Women's Champions League TBA[note 1]
North Korea Naegohyang Winners of the 2025–26 AFC Women's Champions League
UEFA England Arsenal Winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League [14]
Spain Barcelona Winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Women's Champions League
CONCACAF United States Gotham FC Winners of the 2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup [15]
Mexico América Winners of the 2025–26 CONCACAF W Champions Cup [16]
CONMEBOL Brazil Corinthians Winners of the 2025 Copa Libertadores Femenina
CAF Morocco AS FAR Winners of the 2025 CAF Women's Champions League

Reception

The Women's Super League have raised concerns about the decision to schedule the tournament in January. With one or more English teams expected to participate, fixtures for the 2027–28 season would have to be rescheduled to accommodate the FIFA tournament. Fixture rescheduling is already restricted as the season is bookended by the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. The congested season also raises concerns over player welfare.[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ The teams' participation are not confirmed until the approval of the access list. However, the teams won the competitions that are expected to eventually qualify them on the following dates: Wuhan Jiangda (24 May 2025), Arsenal (24 May 2025), Gotham FC (24 May 2025), Corinthians (18 October 2025), AS FAR (21 November 2025), Naegohyang (23 May 2026), Barcelona (23 May 2026), América (23 May 2026).

References

  1. ↑ "FIFA Council approves record-breaking FIFA World Cup 2026 financial contribution" (Press release). FIFA. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  2. ↑ "A Women's Club World Cup 'coming soon' says FIFA's Infantino". Reuters. 5 May 2021. Archived from the original on 3 October 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "First Women's Club World Cup to take place in 2026". BBC Sport. 15 May 2024. Archived from the original on 13 November 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  4. ↑ "Inaugural Women's Club World Cup to be held from Jan–Feb 2026, FIFA says". Reuters. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  5. ↑ Kassouf, Jeff; Foster, Matt (5 March 2025). "FIFA Women's Club World Cup delayed to 2028; new Champions Cup launched". ESPN. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 "FIFA Council approves unprecedented prize money pot for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 and takes key decisions on women's competitions" (Press release). FIFA. 5 March 2025. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  7. ↑ Linehan, Meg; Slater, Matt (5 March 2025). "FIFA Women's Club World Cup delay and new Champions Cup explained". The Athletic. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  8. ↑ "Timelines and formats of landmark FIFA women's club competitions confirmed" (Press release). FIFA. 6 March 2025. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 Hughes, Matt (12 January 2026). "Qatar in talks with Fifa to host first Women's Club World Cup in January 2028". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  10. ↑ McCann, Allison (10 December 2022). "What happened to the Qatar women's national team?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  11. 1 2 Lloyd-Hughes, Theo; Hopkins, Jessica (21 January 2026). "FIFA exec Jill Ellis wary of U.S. hypocrisy over Qatar as women's football host". The Athletic. Retrieved 29 March 2026.
  12. ↑ Hughes, Matt; Hughes, Exclusive by Matt (12 January 2026). "Qatar in talks with Fifa to host first Women's Club World Cup in January 2028". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 March 2026.
  13. 1 2 Smith, Emma; Currie, Jo (21 January 2026). "Women's Club World Cup: WSL against potentially 'catastrophic' new competition's schedule". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  14. ↑ Wright, Stephen (23 July 2025). "Arsenal to play in 2026 FIFA Women's Champions Cup". Arsenal Football Club. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
  15. ↑ "Gotham FC wins inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup". CONCACAF. 25 May 2025. Archived from the original on 11 February 2026. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
  16. ↑ "América tops Spirit in thrilling W Champions Cup final" (Press release). CONCACAF. 24 May 2026. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
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