Fifa’s new Women’s Club World Cup could be delayed beyond 2026 | OneFootball

Fifa’s new 16-team Women’s Club World Cup could be delayed beyond its previously proposed 2026 launch, the Guardian has learned.

The tournament is understood to maintain widespread backing within the governing body, as well as across the confederations, but discussions are ongoing regarding the possibility of the inaugural staging of the event being pushed back a couple of years to allow more time for all concerned to properly prepare for it, according to sources.

No final decisions regarding dates have been made but it is understood the matter will be discussed this week at a Fifa Council meeting where, according to sources, there remains “unwavering support” for launching the tournament.

It is believed one idea that will be raised at the meeting is intro­ducing a mini-tournament with only four teams in 2026, creating breathing space for stakeholders to then work towards fully realising a 16‑team version.

In May 2021 Fifa announced plans for a Women’s Club World Cup and last year it proposed that the tournament would take place between January and February of 2026 following approval by the Fifa Council of the updated women’s football calendar. Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, said at the time: “To this date, we don’t have a global club competition for women. We need to give players an opportunity to perform on the global stage and to develop themselves in all the continents of the world.”

A men’s club World Cup was launched in 2000, known then as the Fifa Club World ­Championship, and this summer, in the US, it becomes a 32-team quadrennial competition, with Manchester City and Chelsea the Premier League’s two representatives.

European teams won the past 11 versions of the previous men’s format. There is a widespread belief that the women’s version will be far more competitive given the strength of women’s leagues in the US, Mexico, Japan and Australia.

Header image: [Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters]