Soccer leaders anticipate FIFA operating model changes for 2031 Women’s World Cup

US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone and FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani have signalled that FIFA’s centralised operating model for the 2026 men’s World Cup could be modified for the 2031 Women’s World Cup, which the United States is expected to co-host with Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica.The 2026 approach has drawn scrutiny across host markets for limiting the role of national federations while concentrating operational control with FIFA and pushing greater delivery and financial responsibility on to individual host cities.Cone said: “We have some time to figure it out. There’s going to be a ton of learnings from the ’26 World Cup, and while we may not want to copy and paste what happened, we definitely want to learn from this tournament to see what may change, may be adjusted or be added. And FIFA has been a great partner open to those conversations.”Montagliani suggested the women’s competition could justify different mechanics, even if FIFA retains a central role in delivery and commercial execution.MLS commissioner Don Garber defended the current model, arguing that the local organising committee structure used for the 1994 World Cup in the United States would be difficult to replicate at the scale and complexity of a modern tournament spanning multiple countries.Garber said: “We don’t have the capacity to do that. FIFA’s job is to put on the best possible World Cup and to think about it every single day.”“It would’ve been inconceivable to think that these three countries could have created an entity with thousands and thousands and thousands of employees that would come in and then leave the next day.”The operating model debate matters commercially because it shapes who carries cost exposure across security, transport, temporary infrastructure and host-city services, and how decision-making is split between FIFA, governments, federations and local organisers.Garber also used the discussion to underline MLS’ next commercial cycle, with the league’s global media deal with Apple running until the end of the 2028-29 season.Garber told the audience: “If anybody’s here from any of the media partners that are so bullish about every other sport, soccer is the most diverse, the youngest sport of any of the major leagues. We’re open for business between now and the next couple years.”Asked about selling media rights into a crowded market, Garber said: “There’s always properties in the market. There’s never a time when you’re alone, so that doesn’t have any impact on our thinking at all.”