<p>ZURICH — FIFA wants more than 200 member federations to pick who hosts the 2027 Women’s World Cup, taking the decision from its ruling council.</p>
<p>The decision to bring the women’s tournament into line with the men’s was announced on Friday after an online meeting of the 37-member FIFA Council.</p>
<p>The 2023 women’s tournament will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand after they won a 22-13 vote over Colombia that split in regional blocs last June.</p>
<p>Colombia was backed by South American soccer body CONMEBOL and Europe’s UEFA which forged a broader alliance several months before. </p>
<p>When a meeting of 211 FIFA member federations chose the 2026 World Cup host, the North American joint bid of the United States, Canada and Mexico won 134-65 against Morocco.</p>
<p>FIFA moved to a more open vote for men’s World Cups after a controversial double award for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, which gave hosting rights to Russia and Qatar. </p>
<p>Those decisions in 2010 were made by an all-male FIFA executive committee, which was later widely discredited, and helped spark federal investigations in the U.S., Switzerland, and France.</p>
<p>In other business, FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested a combined U.S.-Mexico league could be good for men’s club soccer.</p>
<p>“If you could bring those two together, then that would be incredible,” he said in comments translated from Spanish. “That could quite well be the best league in the world.”</p>
<p>“We need to have new ideas,” said Infantino, who has targeted raising standards outside of Europe and South America whose teams dominate the World Cup and Club World Cup.</p>
<p>The FIFA leader encouraged talks between soccer officials in the CONCACAF region, adding that “I trust them to take the best decisions.”</p>
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