Northern Ireland hosting World Cup moves one step closer - with FIFA revealing Windsor Park upgrade plans
Northern Ireland has moved one step closer to hosting the 2035 Women’s World Cup after FIFA confirmed the United Kingdom's joint-bid “meets minimum hosting requirements” and will now be presented to the Extraordinary Congress later this month.
FIFA previously revealed the United Kingdom’s bid – a joint submission between The Football Association, The Irish Football Association, The Scottish Football Association and The Football Association of Wales – was the only valid proposal for the major tournament.
Formal steps will now be completed for the tournament to be awarded to the United Kingdom on November 23 after FIFA released an extensive bid evaluation report.
It confirms Windsor Park is set to host World Cup matches up to the quarter-final stage, but the Belfast venue will need to increase capacity – the report states the stadium will expand from 18,500 to 23,750 by 2035.
While assessing Windsor Park’s suitability, FIFA said “hospitality seating falls marginally short of the benchmark but is considered acceptable”.
As part of a planned redevelopment, “a hybrid‑grass system with tournament‑compliant field‑of‑play dimensions will be installed” at Windsor Park and “an upgrade of the floodlighting system is planned”.
FIFA concluded that Windsor Park is “a well‑established national venue with maintained facilities and an experienced operational structure. Some technical and infrastructural upgrades have been identified, but no material delivery risks are apparent, subject to planned improvements being implemented”.
Windsor Park received a stadium score of 3.6 – Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium and Wembley led the way with scores of 4.6.
The 2035 Women’s World Cup will be contested by 48 teams as part of an expansion starting with the 2031 edition, which is set to be hosted by the United States alongside Costa Rica, Jamaica and Mexico.
It’s expected Northern Ireland will seal automatic qualification to the 2035 Women’s World Cup through their status as co-hosts and it marks the first FIFA tournament to be held in the country.
Speaking in April 2025 about the prospect of Northern Ireland hosting the tournament, Irish FA CEO Patrick Nelson said: “It is great news that the home nations are the sole bidder for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2035.
“We look forward to hosting games at the tournament and playing our part in what I have no doubt will be a fantastic tournament.
“There’s still a lot of hard work to be done along with our partners in bringing it all together, however this will be a brilliant opportunity to show the world what Northern Ireland and Belfast have to offer.”