The 2031 Women's World Cup will have 48 participating teams, opening up opportunities for the Vietnamese women's team.

TPO - On Friday (May 9), the FIFA Council approved a plan to expand the Women's World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2031, opening up opportunities to the biggest football festival on the planet for many countries, including Vietnam.

After consulting with the continental federations, FIFA has decided that from the 2031 Women's World Cup, there will be 48 participating teams, divided into 12 groups of 4 teams, increasing the number of matches from 64 to 104. The world 's most powerful football body believes that expanding the tournament is in line with the rapid development of women's football.

The most recent tournament, held in 2023 in Australia and New Zealand, saw a record attendance of 1,978,274, an average of 30,911 per match. FIFA also said that up to 2 billion people watched the matches on television and digital platforms.

In recent years, interest in women's football has skyrocketed, causing FIFA to continuously adjust the size of the World Cup. The tournament will increase from 24 to 32 teams from 2023, remain the same in 2027 in Brazil and become 48 teams when held in the US in 2031. According to FIFA's distribution mechanism, UEFA has 20 places and AFC has the second most, with 8. The remaining places are CAF with 7, CONCACAF 5, CONMEBOL 4, OFC 1 and the remaining 3 places are determined through the intercontinental play-off round.

At the 2023 World Cup, Asia has 6 spots (plus 2 play-off spots) determined through the 2022 Women's Asian Cup. At that tournament, the Vietnamese women's team stopped at the quarter-finals and got a ticket to the play-off, where coach Mai Duc Chung and his team overcame Chinese Taipei and Thailand to make their first appearance at the World Cup. The 2031 World Cup increasing to 48 teams brings a great opportunity for the Vietnamese women's team to once again attend the biggest women's football festival on the planet.

However, the 2031 World Cup is still a long way off. For now, the Vietnamese women's team is focusing on near-term goals, including the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship Qualifiers, the 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Championship and the 33rd SEA Games.

Thanh Hai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/world-cup-women-2031-se-co-48-doi-tham-du-mo-ra-co-hoi-cho-dt-nu-viet-nam-post1740988.tpo