Eight countries have been chosen FIFA Women's World Cup hosts in the competition's nine editions from the inaugural tournament in 1991 until the tournament played in 2023.
History
The decision to hold the first tournament in China was made by FIFA, football's international governing body, after China hosted a prototype world championship three years earlier, the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament. The first Women's World Cup was sponsored by Mars, Incorporated. With FIFA still reluctant to bestow their "World Cup" brand, the tournament was officially known as the 1st FIFA World Championship for Women's Football for the M&M's Cup.
Only China and the United States have hosted the event on more than one occasion. The 2003 edition was originally awarded to China, but was moved to the United States in May 2003 due to the SARS outbreak. China were instead awarded the right to host the following edition in 2007.
List of hosts
1991 FIFA Women's World Cup
Bid:
FIFA selected China to host the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup as Guangdong had hosted a prototype world championship three years earlier, the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament.
Result:
1995 FIFA Women's World Cup
Bid:
Bulgaria was selected to host the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Result:
However, Bulgaria had to relinquish their hosting rights by FIFA due to practical reasons.
FIFA approached Euro 1992 hosts Sweden at short notice to organise the event.
FIFA later decided to move the tournament to Sweden. As a result, Sweden became the first nation to hold both the men's and women's World Cups, having hosted the 1958 FIFA World Cup
Result:
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
Bids:
The United States Soccer Federation announced their intention to bid for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in February 1995, shortly after hosting the successful 1994 FIFA World Cup. Australia and Chile both announced their intention to bid but withdrew from the process in December 1995. This left the United States as the sole applicant by the March 1996 deadline for bids. The FIFA Executive Committee officially awarded hosting rights to the United States on May 31, 1996, the same day that the 2002 FIFA World Cup was jointly awarded to Japan and South Korea.
Result:
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
Bids:
The Australia Soccer Federation began bidding for the tournament in 1998 and was solely unopposed by the time of the bidding deadline. However, FIFA President at the time, Sepp Blatter, expressed his intentions of bringing the tournament back to China, which hosted the inaugural tournament in 1991. Little interest was shown by the Chinese Football Association however FIFA awarded the hosting rights to China.
Result:
Several sporting events in China were canceled or postponed in early April due to the outbreak of SARS in southern China, and FIFA launched a joint investigation with the World Health Organization into whether the outbreak would subside by the time of the tournament. On May 3, 2003, FIFA announced that they would move the tournament to an alternate host country, which would be determined at a later date.
Bids:
The United States and Australia had expressed interest in hosting, while Brazil was floated as another potential host. On May 26, 2003, the United States was announced as the tournament's new host, ahead of the other formal bid submitted by Sweden. The United States was judged to be a suitable emergency host because of their experience with organizing the 1999 tournament.
China was subsequently awarded the hosting rights to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup by FIFA, as well as $1 million to the organizing committee to compensate for planning expenses.
Result:
2007 FIFA Women's World Cup
Bids:
Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak of SARS in that country forced that event to be moved to the United States. FIFA immediately granted the 2007 event to China, which meant that no new host nation was chosen competitively until the following tournament in 2011.
Result:
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
Bids:
Six nations, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Peru and Switzerland, initially declared their interest in hosting the 2011 Women's World Cup. The German Football Association announced its hopes to host the tournament on 26 January 2006, following a pledge from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to fully support a potential bid. All six nations officially announced their interest by a 1 March 2007 deadline and acknowledged their intention of bidding by 3 May 2007 to FIFA.