September 27 – Gelsenkirchen, the home of Schalke 04, has been named as a candidate host city for the 2027 Women’s World Cup bid by Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Earlier this month Duisburg withdrew, but on Wednesday the German FA (DFB) confirmed that Gelsenkirchen with its 62,271-capacity Veltins Arena will step in to replace Duisburg. Gelsenkirchen will join Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Cologne as candidate host cities. The city had been one of seven in Germany that had applied to be a host city.
The Veltins Arena hosted matches during the 2006 World Cup and will be a host venue next year during Euro 2024.
The Rurh region has become central to the bid by German organisers after ruling out staging matches in the capital Berlin and Munich. It allows for a compact bid with Belgium and the Netherlands under the motto ‘Breaking New Ground’.
The Dutch have named Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Heerenveen and Enschede as host cities. Belgium are yet to announce their candidate host cities.
In the race to land the 2027 Women’s World Cup, the European triumvirate will go up against the United States as well as bids from Brazil and South Africa.
In 2019, France was the last European host. The United States hosted the tournament in 1999. No African or South American country has ever staged the finals.
The bidding countries have to submit their bid books to FIFA by December 8. The world federation will decide on the host nation at the 75th FIFA Congress in May in Bangkok.
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