2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup

FIFA initially announced plans to establish a global women's club competition in May 2021.^[2] It would be structured similarly to the men's Club World Cup, which was scheduled to become a quadrennial tournament beginning with the 2025 edition. The FIFA Council approved the updated women's football calendar at the 74th FIFA Congress held in Bangkok in May 2024, which included the inaugural Women's Club World Cup in early 2026.^[3] The first edition of the quadrennial tournament was to be played in January and February 2026 and involve 16 teams.^[4]

In March 2025, the FIFA Council moved the inaugural Women's Club World Cup to 2028 and expanded it to 19 teams. They also created a new annual Women's Champions Cup to begin in the January/February 2026 slot and take place in the three years between Club World Cups.^[5][6] The two-year delay followed a lack of progress in announced plans for the inaugural tournament, which had yet to have a host, sponsors, or television broadcasters announced.^[7]

Six clubs will participate in the play-in stage where they are paired up. Each pair plays a match and the three winners will advance to the group stage to join 13 other teams who have qualified directly. In the group stage, the teams are put into four groups of four. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals.^[6][8]

In January 2026, it was reported that Qatar was in talks to host the tournament.^[9] Outlets such as The Guardian and The New York Times noted that the Qatar women's national football team, which was created in 2009 as Qatar was preparing to bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, has not had an official match in 12 years, and does not have FIFA rankings.^[10] When asked about the team by the Times, both in 2022 and in 2026, including on whether the team "still exists, if it falls under the QFA umbrella, what funding and development plans are in place and their upcoming fixture schedule", Qatari officials from various agencies did not reply.^[11][12] Both outlets also noted that the choice was likely to attract criticism and controversy based on Qatar's human rights record, especially on LGBTQ issues, as has been the case with the 2022 World Cup.^[10][12]

Wuhan Jiangda

Naegohyang

AS FAR

Gotham FC

América

Corinthians

Arsenal

Barcelona

Location of the non-UEFA teams participating in the 2028 FIFA Women's Club World Cup

The slot allocation for the inaugural edition will be as follows:^[6]

FIFA are yet to announce the access list for the tournament.^[9] It is expected that qualification will be based on the confederations' club championships and club coefficients.^[13]

More information Confederation, Team ...

Qualified (stage not yet known)

Confederation	Team	Qualification	Qualified date	Ref.
AFC	Wuhan Jiangda	Winners of the 2024–25 AFC Women's Champions League	TBA[note 1]
	Naegohyang	Winners of the 2025–26 AFC Women's Champions League
UEFA	Arsenal	Winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League		[14]
	Barcelona	Winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Women's Champions League
CONCACAF	Gotham FC	Winners of the 2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup		[15]
	América	Winners of the 2025–26 CONCACAF W Champions Cup		[16]
CONMEBOL	Corinthians	Winners of the 2025 Copa Libertadores Femenina
CAF	AS FAR	Winners of the 2025 CAF Women's Champions League

Close

The Women's Super League have raised concerns about the decision to schedule the tournament in January. With one or more English teams expected to participate, fixtures for the 2027–28 season would have to be rescheduled to accommodate the FIFA tournament. Fixture rescheduling is already restricted as the season is bookended by the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. The congested season also raises concerns over player welfare.^[13]