FIFA Council approves unprecedented prize money pot for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ and takes key decisions on women’s competitions

• USD 1 billion in prize money announced for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™
• Bidding processes launched for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031 and 2035
• FIFA Women’s Club World Cup to launch in 2028 and annual FIFA Women’s Champions Cup to kick off in 2026

FIFA’s robust financial foundation to develop football around the world took centre stage at the meeting of the FIFA Council, which unanimously approved the Annual Report 2024, including the revised budget revenue target of USD 13 billion for the 2023-2026 cycle that will see nearly 90% invested back in the game to significantly boost global football development.

The revised budget incorporates USD 2 billion in revenues from the much-anticipated FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, which will set a new benchmark for global club football, with USD 1 billion distributed to participating clubs and provision for a solidarity mechanism that will be dedicated to club football across the world.

“The FIFA Club World Cup will not only be the pinnacle of club football, but also a vivid demonstration of solidarity that will benefit clubs at large to a scale that no other competition has ever done,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

“All revenue generated by the tournament will be distributed to the participating clubs and via club solidarity across the world as FIFA will not keep a single dollar. FIFA’s reserves, which are there for global football development, will remain untouched.”

“At the same time, we are making a record investment of almost USD 2.3 billion in the FIFA Forward Programme during the 2023-2026 cycle, which means that by 2026 we will have made the unprecedented amount of up to USD 5.1 billion available for football development since 2016.”

Bidding processes for the 2031 and 2035 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup

The FIFA Council approved the Bidding Regulations and Overview of Hosting Requirements for the 2031 and 2035 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™.

Taking into account the countries that have previously hosted the tournament and that Brazil will be hosting the upcoming edition in 2027, the FIFA Council took the following decisions:

• FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031: FIFA Member Associations affiliated to CAF and Concacaf are invited to bid for the 2031 edition; and
• FIFA Women’s World Cup 2035: FIFA Member Associations affiliated to CAF and UEFA are invited to bid for the 2035 edition 

It is anticipated that the decisions on the hosts of the respective competitions will be taken at the 76th FIFA Congress in Q2 2026.

FIFA Women’s Club World Cup and FIFA Women’s Champions Cup

Following constructive discussions with the confederations and key stakeholders, the FIFA Council decided that the first edition of the quadrennial FIFA Women’s Club World Cup™ will take place in 2028 and will feature a competitive and inclusive format with 19 of the world’s top clubs involved. Six clubs will participate in the play-in phase, with the three winners joining 13 other clubs in the next stage, which will consist of four groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing to the knockout stage. 

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

• AFC, CAF, Concacaf and CONMEBOL: two direct slots and one play-in slot each
• UEFA: five direct slots and one play-in slot
• OFC: one play-in slot

The FIFA Council also approved the creation of the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup™ from 2026 onwards, where the six winners of the confederation club competitions will contest this new global title in the years in which the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup does not take place.

The preliminary stage will consist of the AFC champions first hosting the OFC champions in round 1 with the winner visiting the CAF champions in round 2. The winners of round 2 will progress to the semi-finals to face the UEFA champions, while the Concacaf champions will play the CONMEBOL champions. The Final Four, comprising the semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final, will take place on the following dates:

• FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2026: 28 January 2026 to 1 February 2026
• FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2027: 27 January to 31 January 2027
• FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2029: 24 January to 28 January 2029

Other competitions

The FIFA Council approved the inclusion of several continental final tournaments in the Women’s International Match Calendar which is available on inside.fifa.com. The dates of matches 3, 4 and 5 of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™ were confirmed as follows:

• The FIFA Derby of the Americas (match 3) on 10 December 2025
• The FIFA Challenger Cup (match 4) on 13 December 2025
• The FIFA Intercontinental Cup (match 5) final on 17 December 2025

The FIFA Council also approved the following tournament dates:

• FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025™: 25-26 November 2025 (qualifying matches) and 1-18 December 2025 (final tournament)
• FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025™: 3-27 November 2025
• FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026™: 5-27 September 2026