2011 FIFA Women's World Cup

The FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 will be the first Women's World Cup to be competitively chosen under standard bidding procedures since the 1999 Cup in the USA. The 2003 event was originally awarded to China, but due to the SARS outbreak it was relocated to the United States as an emergency measure. In compensation, China was immediately awarded the 2007 event.

Format

• Tournament Schedule:

FIFA had discussed the possibility of bringing the tournament forward one year, from 2011 to 2010, to coincide with the men's FIFA World Cup. Representatives of women's football protested the idea on the grounds that the men's event will compete with and overshadow the other. In December 2004 FIFA officially voted to retain the current FIFA Women's World Cup cycle, i.e. every four years in an odd year (2003, 2007, 2011, etc.); however, some still speculate that FIFA officials might change their minds, citing past actions such as the reversal of earlier agreements to increase the number of participants in the men's World Cup Finals from 32 to 36.

• Number of Participants:

Currently, FIFA is considering the prospect of increasing the number of teams from 16 to 24, to reflect the growing global popularity of women's soccer and the Women's World Cup, as well as the dramatic increase in parity and competitiveness.

Bidding

Six nations met the first deadline in the bidding process on 1 March 2007 by officially declaring their interest in hosting the 2011 Women's World Cup. The next step was submitting a "Form of Bidding Agreement" by 3 May 2007. Definitive bids are due on 1 August, while a final decision will be made by the FIFA executive Committee on October 31. Switzerland withdrew by the end of May 2007, France by the end of August 2007. Australia also withdrew their bid on 12 October 2007. Peru also withdrew on October 17, 2007. This only leaves bids from Canada and Germany.

Canada

See also: Soccer in Canada and List of stadiums in Canada

Canada is considered a strong contender to host the Women's World Cup in 2011, but the prospect of a third edition out of four being held in North America could hurt its chances. That said, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed his personal desire to see Canada host the World Cup in 2011: "I think it wouldn't be too much to have three of four World Cups in North America... The situation with USA 2003 can't be made a negative for Canada or CONCACAF. Therefore a bid from Canada is absolutely possible for 2011 from FIFA's point of view."--Edmonton Sun. The degree to which this sentiment might affect voting is uncertain. Canada's experience will include hosting the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and the 2007 U-20 World Cup.

Germany

The German Football Association (DFB) launched its bid with the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the heels of Germany's hosting of the 2006 men's World Cup. The bid's official motto is "See You Again". Germany is the only candidate to have participated in all the previous editions and to have won the competition (2003 and 2007).

If the bid was successful matches would be played in Augsburg, Berlin, Bielefeld, Bochum, Dresden, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Leverkusen, Magdeburg, Mönchengladbach, Sinsheim and Wolfsburg.

See also

• FIFA Women's World Cup
• FIFA World Cup
• Women's football (soccer)