FIFA will postpone the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup to 2028 and introduce a new club competition, the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, in 2026. The world footballing governing body announced the new changes on Wednesday. The news comes just days after an initial statement about postponing the Women’s Club World Cup.
The Women’s Champions Cup will be an annual competition and feature six continental champions rolled out in a phased approach beginning in January 2026, and the 2028 Women’s Club World Cup will be held every four years, have 16 teams, with direct slots for major confederations and play-in slots for others. The general format will include a play-in stage, group stages, and knockout rounds with a final hosted in either North America, South America, or Europe.
In 2025, all six football confederations will crown a club champion for the first time.
“This is a super exciting time for women’s football, I think, today, provided that everything goes well and the meeting in a few hours time will be really a historic day in the history of women’s football and I certainly am looking forward to celebrating with my team [as] we get this milestone across the line,” said chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman.
“Over the last 10 months, my team and I have been on what we like to call a listening tour with all our stakeholders, players, confederations — all the key stakeholders — to really refine and work out further details on what these club competitions would look like. What we [presented] today to the FIFA Council today is a result of all that consultation and feedback. And with this in mind … we will introduce a FIFA Women’s Club World Cup in 2028 and as a phased approach, we will introduce an annual club competition starting in 2026 called the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup.”
In December 2022 the FIFA council approved the introduction of a Women’s Club World Cup. Then in May 2024, the council approved additional details that the tournament would start in 2026 as a quadrennial competition with annual touch points in non-FIFA women’s Club World Cup years. Three confederations (AFC, Concacaf, and OFC) will celebrate an inaugural continental champion as a direct result of the previous announcements.
There are still planning phases to take place, like determining which clubs qualify, future host cities and stadium sites, and prize money, but FIFA executives are affirmative that the new competitions will expand playing opportunities and grow the women’s game globally.
“It’s been very clear from the outset that there is global support for a FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. Right now, there is no global sporting comparison when it comes to who is the best women’s league in the world, who has the best clubs, and it’s been, for sure, a hotly contested debate, and one which we are all very excited to see settled,” said FIFA Jill Ellis.
“Every four years we experience the impact of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the football landscape, record crowds, an explosion in transfer fees, transfers itself, and players kind of becoming household names, and the game breaks into the mainstream. We actually just had a statistic that after the 23′ World Cup, 59% of the top five leagues experienced attendance growth, so it’s a fantastic impact. And now we feel it’s time to shine the same global spotlight on the club game, and nothing does that quite like a World Cup.
Our plan is to deliver a petition that will create new rivalries, inspire new audiences, and … it’s an incredible opportunity to match the best clubs in the world against one another, and subsequently we feel stimulate more attention, investment into the women’s game off the pitch. I think every player dreams of being a world champion, and with a global club competition, more players have a chance to fulfill that ambition. So clearly, it’s something we’re very excited about.”
Take a look at key dates for the tournament:
FIFA women’s competition key dates
FIFA will roll out the new competition throughout the following women’s international soccer cycle. The inaugural 2026 tournament is completed the 2027 edition will be determined by the results of the 2026 version. The Women’s Champions Cup will pause in 2028 for the official Women’s Club World Cup, and then resume in 2029 where it will be subject to a new consultation phase.
FIFA Women’s Champions Cup
- January 2026
- TBD 2027
- TBD 2029
FIFA Women’s Club World Cup
Who will be in the tournament
With six new club continental champions set to be crowned this year, there is natural curiosity on which clubs will participate in the new competitions. Before this moment and the introduction of new competitions, there was no measuring stick of club tournaments to determine the level of club competition globally.
“This is probably the most hotly anticipated question, certainly for all the stakeholders that we’ve talked to,” Bareman said. “This meant that there were some very interesting discussions around the topic of slots, but despite that, we have managed to agree slots with our stakeholders for the inaugural edition … The current slots will only apply for the inaugural edition. In 2028, we will embark on a new consultation to determine the future slot allocation for the next edition in 2032.’
Each of the six confederations has one play-in slot. The six teams will playoff for three slots at the Women’s Club World Cup. AFC, CAF, Concacaf, and Conmebol, have two direct slots each, while UEFA will have five direct slots. The 13 slots combined with three champions from the play-in slots will complete the 16 official teams for the Women’s Club World Cup.
Take a look at the format images below:
New competition format
FIFA
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