An announcement came from FIFA earlier this month that the 2031 Women's World Cup will be expanded to 48 competing national teams, up from 32. On the most recent episode of BFFR, New Zealand National Team captain Ali Riley discussed the impact of this change with her guest, Coach Jackie, calling the announcement a "big dub" for the women's game.

"The way that women's soccer is right now," Jackie explained, "it used to be like three or four teams you're like alright, probably one of those. I think that's expanded and so it makes sense to expand the whole pool with it."

The first Women's World Cup, held in China in 1991, featured only 12 competing national teams. In 1999, the pool was expanded to 16 teams, followed by 24 teams in 2015, and then 32 teams during the last world cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

"We saw in 2023, it was so exciting," Riley shared. "There were these amazing stories and I think there will just be more of that because, like you say, the talent is there. And also should we have so many fewer teams than the men? We can also have a large World Cup and it will be super successful."

The 2023 Women's World Cup was the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. The opening match featured host nation New Zealand achieving their first ever World Cup victory in their game against Norway. The competition also featured the tournament debut of eight national teams, including Haiti, the Philippines and the Republic of Ireland.

But perhaps most significant was the dramatic increase in the prize money offered across the tournament. Gianni Infantino announced prior to the event that the total prize money awarded would be $150 million including preparation costs and club benefits, up significantly from $30 million at the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

"I hope that the prize money is also increasing dramatically for 2027 and 2031," Riley went on. "Obviously, that's something we have been fighting for so hard. But with that means when you qualify and then when you get out of the group stage, all of that money will have a huge impact on these players' lives."

FIFA announced in 2023 that they were setting a goal for the 2027 Women's World Cup to offer prize money equal to what was being offered the men in the 2026 World Cup. FIFA has already announced that the total prize money for the men's tournament next year will be $896 million.