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Now let's host the World Cup, say Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak

Now let's host the World Cup, say Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak
Now let's host the World Cup, say Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak

The new Prime Minister will try to bring the Women’s World Cup to the UK following England’s European Championship triumph.

Telegraph Sport has been told that Liz Truss will explore a bid for the 2027 tournament or later editions with the country’s football associations after Rishi Sunak vowed to do so in the wake of the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 final win over Germany.

Truss, the Foreign Secretary, attended the match on behalf of the Government, while former Chancellor Sunak watched it in a pub in Salisbury, Wiltshire, after meeting Conservative Party members on the campaign trail.

Their commitment to a World Cup bid followed a Women’s Euros, at which attendance and television viewing records were smashed.

That included an 87,192 crowd at Sunday’s final – the biggest in any men’s or women’s Euros – and a 17.4 million TV audience on BBC One, making the game the country’s most watched programme of 2022.

The Women's World Cup next year will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, with the bidding process for the 2027 tournament expected to begin this summer.

The only bid formally announced so far is one from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, although interest has been expressed by the likes of Italy, a Nordic coalition of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, the United States, Mexico, Chile, and South Africa.

Hosting the World Cup in the UK would arguably bring in more in ticketing and commercial revenue than staging it in any other country bar the US, which is already holding the men’s tournament in 2026.

A UK bid for the women’s edition would also stand more chance of success than for the men’s. A plan for the British Isles to stage the 2030 World Cup was recently scrapped in favour of a bid for Euro 2028.

Even if a bid for the 2027 Women’s World Cup is ruled out, Sunak or Truss could seek to launch one for 2031 if he or she were still Prime Minister after the 2024 General Election.

Sunak said: “Britain is a terrific host of major sporting events, which not only make us immensely proud, but also generate jobs and opportunities. I will therefore work with home nations FAs to explore a bid for a future World Cup so those inspired by the Lionesses have even more to look forward to. Global Britain will be the home of the world’s best sport.”

Telegraph Sport has been told the Football Association would be interested in bidding for the tournament in future.

However, with a European bid for the 2027 edition having already been announced and the 2031 World Cup likely to go to another continent, 2035 may be the earliest realistic opportunity to bring women’s football home again.

Lucy Bronze, a key member of England's Euro 2022 squad, said: “Literally the only thing that could top this tournament would be a home World Cup and chance to do all this again but on an even bigger stage. That would be incredible. So, fingers crossed. Any World Cup final would do for us, I think.”