Could Seattle host the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup?

When the U.S. women's national team made its first stop in Seattle in nearly a decade last month, the return was lauded by everyone involved. There was excitement about playing inside Lumen Field. There were raves for the quality of the installed grass surface. And there was appreciation for the support of the more than 36,000 fans that showed up on a drizzly weeknight in April.

"I think the Pacific Northwest has such a great appetite for women's soccer, so I'm really happy that we were able to bring a game here," U.S. defender Tierna Davidson said after the friendly against Japan. "I hope to be able to do it more."

How about doing it again in 2031? And this time, on a much grander scale.

While the majority of the focus locally is on the upcoming FIFA Men's World Cup set to kick off at Lumen Field in about a month, there is another tournament on the far off horizon that could end up with a significant Seattle angle.

FIFA will meet in late November to decide on the host countries for the 2031 and 2035 Women's World Cup tournaments. To date, there is only one bid - and only one expected - for both tournaments, but the 2031 tournament is the focus here as it will be a joint CONCACAF bid that includes cities and venues in the United States, Jamaica, Mexico and Costa Rica.

The 2031 tournament will be the first Women's World Cup to feature an expanded 48-team field, the same size as the men's tournament taking place this year. That means more games and more venues needed than in previous events.

And when the bid book was released last November, Seattle and Lumen Field were prominently listed as one of the proposed venues to potentially be used for the tournament - one of 14 primary cities and venues in the U.S. that were noted in the document. Seattle was one of seven cities that will host matches for the 2026 World Cup that was also listed as a potential host five years from now.

Every single event that Seattle hosts, we have learnings from it, and we develop new best practices that we want to apply that to the next event and the next consideration for a bid," Seattle Sports Commission CEO Beth Knox said. "So we are absolutely taking lessons learned from the men's World Cup and working with FIFA and then applying that to our bid process for '31."

There are advantages Seattle has if it wants to pursue hosting those games in 2031. They are likely to be well received by the local soccer community. It's the only primary venue listed in the bid book in the Pacific Northwest with the next closest possible venues in the Bay Area, Salt Lake City and Denver. There's also the response shown more than a decade ago when the Women's World Cup final was played in Vancouver, B.C. and U.S. fans were the overwhelming majority at BC Place for the final between the Americans and Japan.

And there's already an established relationship between the tournament operations side of FIFA and officials here in hosting events between last year's Club World Cup and this year's tournament. It's easy to deduce that the next step would be inclusion for 2031 and perhaps games with more prominence than this year's tournament. It's not inconceivable to think a quarterfinal or semifinal could potentially be played in Seattle.

But not all those cities or venues in the U.S. will be selected for the tournament as there will be games played in the other three countries that are part of the bid. Even with an expanded field for the men's World Cup this year, only 11 venues are being used in the U.S.

Knox said her group has been working with U.S. Soccer on the parameters of the bid for 2031. Sounders owner and Reign FC governor Adrian Hanauer recently said he didn't want to get ahead of FIFA in the process but added, "Seattle is a city on the list to potentially host and if we host we will do it right. And the women playing in the 2031 World Cup deserve that."

So while it makes sense on the surface, there's no guarantee that the 2031 tournament will have games here. Ultimately all parties have to sign off on pursuing the bid, which is likely to include a new Seahawks owner as the primary tenant of Lumen Field.

There are also other events on the sports calendar to consider and another World Cup event taking place that year. The 2031 men's Rugby World Cup will be held in the United States for the first time and Seattle is listed as one of the cities in consideration for hosting games.

In the past, the Rugby World Cup has been played primarily in the fall, with the 2027 tournament in Australia set to be played in October and November. But that might not work in the U.S. with many of the cities and venues under consideration the home of NFL teams. It might mean a shift to a more summertime tournament and possibly conflicts with the Women's World Cup and venues it might want to use.

Ultimately, cities and venues may be left choosing between one or the other to pursue because of capacity and infrastructure strain, and scheduling congestion.

Knox said currently the SSC is pursuing both events concurrently and initial conversations with World Rugby have shown a willingness to be flexible considering the possible scheduling issues. It could mean having only a one-off rugby match in Seattle or being a base camp instead of a host site.

"We're open to all of those options up until the point where we say this isn't feasible and then we'll make that decision, Knox said.

Clarity on the venues for the Women's World Cup is expected after formal approval by FIFA, while the list of 27 cities for the Rugby World Cup is expected to be pared down later this year and a final decision on cities and venues made in late 2027.

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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 6:54 AM.