The FIFA Council met at the Home of FIFA in Zurich on Thursday, 3 October 2024 and adopted key decisions on a variety of topics, including FIFA Member Associations and upcoming men’s and women’s competitions.

In relation to the proposal submitted by the Palestine Football Association regarding the Israel Football Association at the 74th FIFA Congress, the FIFA Council adopted the following recommendations and conclusions reached in the independent legal analysis mandated by FIFA:

“The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “The ongoing violence in the region confirms that, above all considerations, and as stated at the 74th FIFA Congress, we need peace. As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we urge all parties to restore peace to the region with immediate effect.”

The FIFA Council unanimously approved the Regulations for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, which seek to address technicalities and equalise inconsistencies created by differences in registration periods and domestic-season timings between participating clubs to the greatest extent possible, while affording flexibility to the FIFA Member Associations in question.

Under the regulations, the FIFA Member Associations of the clubs participating in the FIFA Club World Cup™ will have the option of opening an exceptional registration window from 1 to 10 June 2025 (for all their affiliated clubs) prior to the start of the competition. The decision as to whether or not to open an additional window remains at the full discretion of each FIFA Member Association concerned.

Following the deadline for the submission of the squad lists, as some players’ contracts will expire mid-competition, participating clubs may replace players during a restricted in-competition period from 27 June to 3 July 2025 within a set limit and according to specific limitations, including the fact that a “standard” registration window must be open for the club at the time. However, the objective is to encourage clubs and players whose contracts are expiring to find an appropriate solution to facilitate the players’ participation.

“The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will kick off a new era for club football across the world, with the top teams competing to be crowned the official FIFA club world champions,” said President Infantino. “These regulations will ensure that the best possible conditions are in place in order for all 32 participating clubs and the best players in the world to shine at the highest level.”

The FIFA Council also unanimously approved the voting procedure for the designation of the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2030™ and FIFA World Cup 2034™.

Based on the procedure, if at the conclusion of the ongoing bid evaluation process (when FIFA publishes the Bid Evaluation Report), a bid is assessed as having met the minimum hosting requirements according to the results of the technical evaluation, it will be eligible for submission to the FIFA Congress.

Given that the bidding processes have been administered concurrently and each process involves a single candidate, the selection of the hosts of the competitions will take place at the same Extraordinary FIFA Congress, to be held virtually on Wednesday, 11 December 2024.

As the foundation for these bidding processes was the unanimous approval by the FIFA Council of a consolidated proposal that covers the 2030 and 2034 editions, the decision on the hosts will also be taken en bloc.

The FIFA Council endorsed the updated FIFA Women’s Football Strategy: 2024-2027, which reflects the overarching framework of FIFA’s Strategic Objectives for the Global Game: 2023-2027, while also establishing tactics and game plans that are specific to women’s football.

The FIFA Women’s Football Strategy: 2024-2027 seeks to build on the tremendous success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, which attracted a global audience of more than two billion supporters and featured packed stadiums, with almost two million spectators.

“While the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 set a new benchmark for women’s football and had a massive impact on the game, we look forward to Brazil 2027, the first FIFA Women’s World Cup to be staged in South America, which will play a decisive role in terms of the exponential growth of women’s football,” stated President Infantino.

The FIFA Council appointed Asunción, Paraguay, as the host of the 75th FIFA Congress on 15 May 2025.

The FIFA Council likewise confirmed the following tournament dates:

Moreover, at the request of the three organising confederations (CAF, CONMEBOL and the OFC), the following dates of their respective competitions for women’s “A” representative teams were included in the Women’s International Match Calendar 2024-2025:

Consequently, and as agreed with the confederations, the dates of the international windows scheduled in June-July 2025 will be as follows: