Canada is expected to become an incredibly popular destination for soccer after winning the rights to host the two major FIFA events for women’s soccer. Canada will be holding both the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
These two tournaments will be taking place in seven cities across the country and it is expected to draw at least 2 million fans from all over the globe. The nation is preparing to make hay with this news, as it is expected to be followed by several announcements linking with the development of infrastructure across the country.
The FIFA head for the women competitions, Tatjana Haenni stated that this was indeed a great news for women’s soccer. FIFA are planning to expand the game to all corners of the globe and not just to Canada. Men’s soccer is now only picking up pace in the North American country. There have been a few Canadian teams included in the MLS, while more are set to be added in the near future. Toronto, Montréal, and Edmonton are expected to be some of the top destinations at these major tournaments.
They may not attract the attention as men’s tournament, but Canada believes that they can certainly help improve the profile of the nation as a soccer country, according to www.ilovemanutd.com.
“The world needs to see good women’s football. We hope that we can reach so many countries worldwide to further develop football, not only in the world but also in Canada. It’s important for us to hold these events in countries that can show the world that women’s football is at a high level and is developed and has success stories. That hopefully helps other countries to jump on the train,” said Tatjana Haenni.
Haenni is expected to visit Canada in the next few days.