The World Football Governing body, FIFA on Wednesday announced that the first edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup will take place in 2028.
FIFA also announced the creation of a new six-team Women’s Champions Cupset to start next year, featuring clubs from across the world. The competition was approved at a Fifa Council on Wednesday.
Meanwhile the 16-team Women’s Club World Cup competition will be played every four years from 2028.
“Following constructive discussions with the confederations and key stakeholders, the FIFA Council decided that the first edition of the quadrennial FIFA Women’s Club World Cup will take place in 2028 and will feature a competitive and inclusive format with 19 of the world’s top clubs involved,” Reads a statement from FIFA accessed by the ZamFoot Crew.
Six clubs will participate in the play-in phase, with the three winners joining 13 other clubs in the next stage, which will consist of four groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
The slot allocation for the inaugural edition will be as follows:
- AFC, CAF, Concacaf and CONMEBOL: two direct slots and one play-in slot each
- UEFA: five direct slots and one play-in slot
- OFC: one play-in slot
“The FIFA Council also approved the creation of the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup™ from 2026 onwards, where the six winners of the confederation club competitions will contest this new global title in the years in which the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup does not take place.”
The preliminary stage of the Champions Cup will consist of the AFC champions first hosting the OFC champions in round 1 with the winner visiting the CAF champions in round 2. The winners of round 2 will progress to the semi-finals to face the UEFA champions, while the Concacaf champions will play the CONMEBOL champions.
The Final Four, comprising the semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final, will take place on the following dates:
- FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2026: 28 January 2026 to 1 February 2026
- FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2027: 27 January to 31 January 2027
- FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2029: 24 January to 28 January 2029
Zambian teams will have to do well at the CAF Women’s Champions League tournament to boost their chances of playing in the competition though CAF is yet to confirm the criteria.
Green Buffaloes Women’s Football Club qualified to the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League after winning the COSAFA Women’s Champions qualifier but they were eliminated in the group stage.
