Image Credits: Imago Images
The United Kingdom has officially submitted its bid to host the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland coming together for what would be a historic home tournament.
The joint bid includes 22 stadiums across the four nations, with venues ranging from Wembley—the proposed final host—to iconic grounds such as the Etihad Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Old Trafford.
The tournament is expected to offer 4.5 million tickets, making it the largest Women’s World Cup in history.
However, one notable absence from the stadium list is Liverpool’s Anfield.
Despite being one of the most iconic stadiums in world football, Anfield falls short of FIFA’s mandatory pitch dimension requirements.
According to FIFA’s official Stadium Guidelines, all World Cup host venues must have a field of play measuring 105 meters x 68 meters.
Anfield’s pitch measures just 101 meters in length—four meters shorter than the required standard. This same issue saw the stadium excluded from the Euro 2028 host venues earlier this month.
Liverpool completed a major £80 million expansion of the Anfield Road End in 2023-24, increasing capacity to over 61,000. However, extending the pitch was never part of the project.
To lengthen the playing surface, Liverpool would have needed to undertake costly alterations to the lower tier of the redeveloped stand, including extensive work on entry and exit points.
The club ultimately decided against it, prioritising matchday experience and commercial considerations over international tournament eligibility.
While Anfield misses out, the city of Liverpool will still be represented in the 2035 bid. Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, which meets all FIFA requirements, is included among the 22 venues.
For now, Liverpool fans hoping to see a World Cup match at Anfield will have to wait—unless the club finds a way to address the pitch dimensions in future redevelopment plans.
Our joint bid to host the @FIFAWWC features 16 proposed English stadiums, with a further six proposed from across Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.#AllTogether pic.twitter.com/XSmWNrNbga
— The FA (@FA) November 28, 2025
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