CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Commentary by: Sean Maslin
With innovation comes plenty of opportunities but also plenty of risk. FIFA is certainly finding this out as it looks to branch out its Club World Cup concept and expand into the women’s club game. After looking at the (relative) success of the men’s Club World Cup this past summer, football’s international body is not wanting to make its presence known in the women’s club game. But with it come pitfalls and plenty of questions.
Now, to be clear, that FIFA is considering putting together a competition is a testament to the growth of the women’s game over the past 20-30 years. Considering that women’s club football is still a new concept at the professional level shows that there is now an audience for an international club competition in its major markets in Europe, North America, and across the world. FIFA clearly sees opportunities for growth (and as always with FIFA, dollar signs) ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil in 2029.
The first of the two new competitions, the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, already kicked off play in October with Wuhan Jiangda of the Chinese Women’s Super League knocking off Auckland City FC 1-0. The Asian Football Confederation representative will next take on a team from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in December. CAF is currently in the middle of determining its team through this year’s CAF Champions League tournament in Egypt.
Once the second round is determined, the winning side will join Arsenal, Corinthians, and Gotham FC in a single-elimination style tournament. The teams will face off against each other in London, starting on January 28th, with the final slated for February 1st. While Arsenal are still waiting to find out who its opponent will be, Gotham FC and Corinthians know that their path to glory is through each other.
The aim, on FIFA’s end, seems to be simple: use the Champions Cup as a means to start building up interest in the competition before the first Women’s Club World Cup in 2028. Although the Women’s Club World Cup was initially slated to kick off in 2025, FIFA delayed those plans back in March of 2025 to give itself more time to secure sponsors, a tournament host, and to iron out other logistics.
At this point, it is known that the tournament will feature 19 teams from across the five confederations. CONCACAF, CAF, AFC, and UEFA will each receive two automatic spots in the tournament, with an additional spot reserved for the play-in tournament. OCEANIA, which includes clubs from the Pacific Ocean area, will not receive an automatic spot but can qualify one team through the play-in tournament.
There have also been multiple teams that have already qualified for this competition. Despite the tournament not kicking off until 2028, Arsenal, Gotham, and Wuhan have already qualified, earning their spots through having won their confederations Champions League in 2024-2025.
Despite the lack of information on tournament logistics, there is still plenty to be excited for with FIFA’s ambitions in women’s club football. As the FIFA Club World Cup showed this past summer and as the Women’s World Cup has shown over the past several cycles, there is an appetite from supporters for more tournament football and in particular with the women’s game.
The question is now: Can FIFA pull these tournaments off and give them time to grow? Interest has never been higher for the women’s game but it is going to take some patience, and as evidenced by the efforts to get these tournaments off the ground, some time to make them work.
