Brazil's bid for the 2027 Women's World Cup outshone those of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, according to an evaluation report released by FIFA on Tuesday.
The FIFA Congress is scheduled to vote for the 2027 host on May 17 at its meeting in Bangkok. This will mark the first time the member federations of football's 211-nation governing body will hold an open vote to select the tournament's hosts.
Brazil has been considered the front-runner to win the 2027 bid since FIFA struck a deal with several of football's continental governing bodies in October to secure preferred hosts for the men's World Cup in 2030 and 2034.
South American football body CONMEBOL agreed to take just three games for 2030 – one each in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay for a 104-game tournament mostly to be hosted in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco – and skipped its turn to bid for 2034, which is going to Saudi Arabia.
Sending a first Women's World Cup to South America then became a likely consequence.
Based on the technical evaluation by a FIFA in-house panel, Brazil's bid was given an average score of 4.0 out of 5, while the joint European bid received a 3.7.
The three-person evaluation team, led by FIFA's chief women's officer, Sarai Bareman, determined both bids qualify for consideration "due to both having exceeded the minimum hosting requirements" in the technical evaluation.
The United States and Mexico withdrew a joint bid last week. U.S. Soccer said the federations will instead focus on hosting the 2031 tournament. South Africa dropped its bid late last year, saying it would also turn to 2031. That hosting decision is due next year.
Brazil hosted the men's World Cup in 1950 and 2014, and hosting another major FIFA event would make better use of stadiums built for that tournament.
Germany hosted the Women's World Cup in 2011 and the Men's World Cup in 2006. It also will host the men's European Championship in 10 cities starting June 14.
The 2023 Women's World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand and was the first hosted by two nations.
