U.S. to host FIFA Women's Club World Cup

News that the USA was selected to host the inaugural Women's FIFA Club World Cup. Can you tell me a little bit about this, how important this is for the U.S. and what do you think? Well, first of all, I think it's phenomenal just for women's soccer and soccer in this country. It's the inaugural Club World Cup for the women. And so it's really a big deal for to be hosting this. And it's not until 2028. But I think when you look at even the events between now and then in the history of soccer and women's soccer, in the United States it just seems incredibly fitting that FIFA has chosen the United States to host this inaugural tournament and watch these teams really come to fruition and come on U.S. soil and participate in this tournament so it's going to be really fun to see it's going to be fun to watch and what a fantastic opportunity for fans to really come and see what's happening here in the United States and what women's soccer is all about yeah well to tie it in locally the Orlando just put in a bid for to host the 2031 World Cup so do you think you see some Florida action i know that um Miami is slated to host one of the semi-finals and the finals where do you see Florida kind of fitting into the mix well i think with Orlando when you look at the history of soccer in the city there in Orlando City with the men's side and the women's side and you have legends that are playing on that women's team right now so when you look at the history of soccer just in the state of Florida and the quality that they have and especially in the Orlando area when you look at what this uh club the the local city has done and the way everybody has really embraced women's soccer i mean even the U.S. women's national team just having hosted Spain in two friendlies and you have number one and number two in the world playing against each other in these friendlies during an international break i think you can just see the elevation of the women's game i would not be surprised one bit if the women um if this club world cup finds a way to, they haven't named the host cities for the Club World Cup yet, but if you see them finding a way to Orlando for the women's world cup in 2031, which they're putting in a bid for that, the United States, a joint world club to host in probably North America, similar to what we saw the men do in the last summer. So I wouldn't be surprised one bit. If we see games in Orlando city, they know how to host, they know how to understand soccer. They're appreciative of the game and of the sport. So this is just like the first step in that right to get the Club World Cup for the women on United States soil and to really kind of represent this country in the way that we know it can be. And the unique thing about the Club World Cup is that it is Club World Cup. It's not the national team. So you have seven teams that have already qualified from different leagues around the world, and Arsenal is a women's team that everybody's familiar with. Gotham FC in the NWSL has already qualified. Each region gets a certain amount of teams to qualify for this Club World Cup. So it's sort of a different situation than when you have national teams playing against each other. But again, it's just going to elevate the sport. It's going to elevate the game. And then let's not forget that we have the Olympics coming to the United States in 2028. So there's going to be no shortage of soccer and soccer fandom heading into this Club World Cup that's going to be hosted on U.S. soil coming in 2028. That's going to be exciting. So, I mean, fingers crossed that we get to host a game. That would be fantastic for the city of Orlando and me personally, just seeing how orlando gets for these kinds of games amazing stuff um okay so talking a little bit about the european teams these games are going to be hosted um during their peak of their season how does that kind of play into the u.s which will not be obviously playing games when the european teams are playing so can you kind of walk us through that so the way the international calendar works um the women and the men are on different calendars but the women in general the european leagues play a different schedule than the nwsl or some of the other leagues around the world so the teams that have already qualified for this 2028 Club World Cup are Arsenal which obviously plays in England Club America which plays in Mexico Barcelona which plays in Spain as we all know Gotham FC which i just stated plays in the United States in the NWSL and then you have a couple other teams that are from Asian leagues um from North Korea from China and then of course SC Corinthians from Brazil so when you look at the way the calendar works nobody's ever going to be all aligned that's one of the challenges right especially seasonally seasonally the way these different leagues work so i think it's just one of those things that there's a plus and a minus when you are a club team that is coming in the peak of your season um in January versus a club team that may just be uh going into preseason which is what the NWSL will be their preseason is usually January February and so they're just going to have players coming into camp but they're also going to be fresh so you either have teams that are in the middle of their season and they're sort of finding the rhythm but they might be dealing with some injuries and some absences doing during that time and then you have NWSL teams and teams from the United States that might be just in the the preseason of their action so just getting going so both things have pluses and minuses to them and i think it's all just going to even out because i think the teams that qualify are going to be so excited to be participating in this first ever Club World Cup for the women and when you look at again you look at the 2027 Women's World Cup which is overseas in Brazil the 2028 Olympics which is in the United States which will have women's soccer in it obviously and then you look at going into the 2028 Club World Cup coming to the United States and there's a reason why FIFA chooses the United States because they understand that this country can host phenomenal events we've shown it we've seen it we had the men's Club World Cup in 2025 we had the men's World Cup obviously in 2026 and now this coming up so i think they just understand that the growth of the sport and the um fan base here in the United States so it's gonna be fun to see it now on the women's level hosting here in the United States and i'm sure like i said i i don't doubt one bit that Orlando will end up with a game especially knowing that it's going to be held in january who doesn't want to go to Florida in january and uh participate in that kind of weather and those kind of circumstances so it's going to be great it's going to be fun to see very exciting stuff now we have until january to kind of look forward to these games what else can we look forward to up until these games begin well the actual Club World Cup is not until january of 2028 so we got some time um but there also is a Champions Cup for the women in january of 2027 so again when you look at all these things in between now and the NWSL in the United States is just ramping up, this is like the prime of the season, there's only a couple weeks left, the playoffs are in this crazy push, there's 16 teams in the league this year, another team being added in Atlanta next season and if you look at the standings for the women's league in the United States for NWSL, the the fan base the camaraderie the competition it's just ratcheted it up week after week. So if you are a fan and you're trying to figure out which women's team should I be cheering for, which league should I be cheering for? don't just turn on the television and like think overseas. Even in the men's game, a lot of people think, oh, I'm going to watch the EPL on the weekend. Tune into your local stuff because the NWSL is phenomenal. The National Women's Soccer League, they are growing by leaps and bounds. The quality in this league is next to nothing. So, I mean, you're just not going to beat it. And so I think if you're Orlando City fan or if you're an Orlando Pride fan and you're right there and you've got Marta sitting in your backyard on the roster, one of the greatest history, you know, players in the history of Brazilian women's soccer, just go find your local team, tune into the NWSL. You can find them just about anywhere. The season is ratcheting up. so if that's just on your immediate calendar to really get you excited for what this Club World Cup is going to look like in 2028, there's all sorts of things between now and January of 2028 that you can tune into incredible women's soccer all over the globe. and especially right here in your own backyard. Yeah, I mean, for us in Orlando, it's so easy to go out and show up for an Orlando game. Tickets are usually less than $30, so it's easy to go and support the girls. Yeah, and I was just there a couple weeks ago for a men's game, but I've been there for women's games as well. I've covered Orlando several times already this season, so I can't tell you how much fun it is to just see the smiles and the competition, but the fans, the young girls, the young boys, anybody that's showing up for those games, you know it's going to be an incredible fan and family experience. So, you know, we talk about it on the pro level. The college level is much the same. And again, when we continue to go into these higher leagues, internationals, you know, national teams, all those kinds of things, it's going to be a phenomenal opportunity for people just to really find their groove and support their team, support their players, support their local clubs, and then come, you know, the following summer when the teams all head to Brazil for the Women's World Cup you can support your country wear your colors and then you'll be right back here for the club World Cup in January of 2028 so it's going to be pretty impressive it's going to be a lot of fun and um you know there's going to be no shortage of people wearing their scarves and doing their chants and bringing their game you know their a game as a supporter in a cheering section yeah of course looking forward to it until then thank you so much for speaking with us today