UK Unveils Huge 2035 Women’s World Cup Stadium Plan as New Old Trafford & Birmingham Supersite Make Shock Shortlist
The UK has officially dropped its monster bid to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup — and it’s a whopper. A total of 22 stadiums has been put forward across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including Manchester United’s proposed 100,000-seater Old Trafford and Birmingham City’s futuristic £2.5bn Powerhouse Stadium. If FIFA gives the thumbs up, it’d be the biggest standalone sporting event Britain’s ever staged.
The bid mixes old giants with shiny newcomers. Wembley, Hampden and the Emirates are in there as expected, but the real headline-grabbers are the stadiums that don’t actually exist yet. United’s new Old Trafford is still in the drawing-board phase, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s camp insists it’ll eclipse Wembley in both size and matchday fanfare by 2035. Birmingham are banking on a regeneration miracle too, powered by minority owner Tom Brady’s deep pockets. Their Powerhouse Stadium is pencilled for a 2030–31 opening — if everything doesn’t slip behind schedule, which these mega-projects love to do.
Several current grounds was kicked off the list for failing FIFA standards. Stamford Bridge didn’t cut it, meaning the FA has had to stick in a placeholder “Chelsea Stadium” instead, while Wrexham’s historic Stok Cae Ras also fell short. Todd Boehly is exploring relocation plans already, hunting for a bigger, more FIFA-friendly future home.
The expanded Women’s World Cup, moving to 48 teams from 2031, needs at least 15 compliant grounds. The UK has gone overboard with 22, ready to stage 104 matches over 39 days. England hosts 16 of them, Wales has three, Scotland two and Northern Ireland one, underlining a bid clearly designed to spread the party across all four nations. FA chiefs hailed the project as “transformational”, insisting it’ll turbo-charge the women’s game and leave a legacy stretching long after 2035.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has thrown the full weight of No.10 behind it. He talked up the Lionesses’ impact on young players and said the tournament would pump life into communities and businesses “up and down the UK”. England boss Sarina Wiegman echoed that sentiment, saying the World Cup would lift not just football, “but women in society too”.
Full shortlist of proposed 2035 Women’s World Cup venues:
Windsor Park (Belfast)
Powerhouse Stadium (Birmingham)
Villa Park (Birmingham)
AmEx Stadium (Brighton)
Ashton Gate (Bristol)
Cardiff City Stadium (Cardiff)
Principality Stadium (Cardiff)
Easter Road (Edinburgh)
Hampden Park (Glasgow)
Elland Road (Leeds)
Hill Dickinson Stadium (Liverpool)
Chelsea Stadium (London)
Emirates Stadium (London)
Selhurst Park (London)
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
Wembley Stadium (London)
Etihad Stadium (Manchester)
St James’ Park (Newcastle)
City Ground (Nottingham)
Stadium of Light (Sunderland)
Old Trafford – current (Manchester)
Stok Cae Ras (Wrexham)
But the most intriguing subplot is brewing in the background. Manchester United are pushing hard — and I mean hard — to snatch the final away from Wembley and bring it to the new Old Trafford instead. Club leaders believe the North deserves a global showpiece, and they’re ready to prod the FA’s long-standing London-first habits.
United COO Collette Roche didn’t bother hiding the club’s ambition: they want the world’s top football events in Manchester, backed by major regeneration and infrastructure work around the stadium site. The club’s economic partners reckon a rebuilt Old Trafford could pump £7.3bn a year into the UK economy, support more than 90,000 jobs and attract millions of visitors — the sort of numbers politicians like to wallpaper their manifestos with.
For now, FIFA will go through the paperwork and make their call over the next couple of years. But if the UK lands this thing, it’s not just another tournament. It could reshape cities, rebuild stadiums and hand Manchester the most political football it’s had in decades. The race for the 2035 final is already on — and Wembley’s grip on the big occasion suddenly doesn’t look so secure.