Tag: Wales

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UK unveils record-breaking bid for 2035 Women’s World Cup

UK football chiefs on Friday unveiled details of their unopposed joint bid to host the Women’s World Cup in 2035, with 22 proposed stadiums listed in the official submission.

The bid team said the 48-nation finals would be the biggest single-sport event ever staged in the UK.

It would be the first World Cup played on British soil since the men’s finals in 1966, which were solely hosted by England.

“With 63 million people living within two hours of a proposed venue, it would be the most accessible tournament ever,” the bid team said in a statement.

Sixteen of the stadiums on the shortlist are in England, including Manchester United’s proposed new 100,000-seater arena, with three in Wales, two in Scotland, and one in Northern Ireland, across 15 cities.

The final number of stadiums is expected to be whittled down to around 16.

A measure of the size of the event is that at the Qatar men’s World Cup in 2022, just eight stadiums were used.

FIFA confirmed later on Friday that the UK bid would be formally ratified at next year’s congress in Vancouver.

The April gathering of football’s global governing body is also set to approve the joint candidature of the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica to stage the 2031 women’s World Cup.

“Hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup would be a huge privilege for our four home nations,” the chief executives of the UK football associations  said on Friday.

“If we are successful, the 2035 tournament will be the biggest single-sport event held on UK soil with 4.5 million tickets available for fans.

“We are proud of the growth that we’ve driven in recent years across the women’s and girls’ game, but there is still so much more growth to come, and this event will play a key role in helping us deliver that.”

Manchester United’s existing Old Trafford stadium has been included, but the bid team intend to put the club’s proposed new ground forward for consideration by FIFA once plans are confirmed.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the bid showed the UK’s passion for football.

“The (England) Lionesses’ success has inspired girls across our country, and we’ll build on that momentum by welcoming millions of football fans from around the world to a tournament that will benefit communities and businesses in host cities up and down the UK,” he said.

England’s women’s team have won the past two European Championships and reached the final of the 2023 World Cup.

From 2031, the Women’s World Cup will be contested between 48 teams, up from 32.The next Women’s World Cup will take place in Brazil in 2027. (Guardian)

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Wales team bus involved in crash on way to training for Euro 2025 game

The Welsh national football team have been involved in a traffic collision while heading to training in Switzerland.

Wales women are set to play France tomorrow evening in their second game of Euro 2025 however their bus was involved in a crash on their way St. Gallen Arena on Tuesday (8 July) afternoon.

Tuesday’s training session at the stadium has been cancelled but manager Rhian Wilkinson reassured the media that everyone was OK. She and captain Angharad James had been travelling in a separate car on their way to a press conference.

The team will instead train at their base in Weinfelden.

Shortly after the incident, Wilkinson told members of the media that the situation was “developing” but added: “Everyone is OK, our priority is just to get them all together and away form the scene and then reassess.

“We’ve got great staff and really good support for them and we’ll be checking in to make sure they continue to be OK.

“Also, and just as importantly, I believe the other car involved – I think everyone is OK there as well.”

She added: “Football is secondary and I think yes we are shaken just because we don’t know. We are away from the team right now so they’ve had to experience that but equally we have a great group.

“I’ve been assured everyone is fine. We’ve practised for the unexpected and I think that’s what you can call this.

“Football is secondary but equally we’ll check back in and make sure everyone is in a good spot and then start working towards football again after that.”

In a statement, the FAW said: “The Cymru national team bus has been involved in a road traffic accident whilst travelling to Arena St Gallen for their match day -1 training session ahead of Wednesday’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 match against France.

“All passengers on the Cymru national team bus and in the other vehicle are unharmed. The FAW’s priority has been to remove the players from the scene and return to the Cymru training base to complete their preparations for tomorrow’s match.”

In a press conference at the stadium, France manager Laurent Bonadei sent the team “a message of support, because beyond football, health is so important”.

He added: “I heard they cancelled their training. I hope they’re OK and I hope they’re OK tomorrow. It will be a pleasure to meet them tomorrow.” (ITV)