The FIFA Series, a biennial tournament launched last year aimed to offer more opportunities for lower-ranked and less wealthy national teams to play between other countries, will grow in the 2026 edition, FIFA announced on Friday, and it will expand to a new women's edition.
The 2024 edition of the FIFA Series (which despite being an official competition, the matches are friendlies) featured 24 countries: Bhutan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka from Asia; Algeria, Cape Verde, and Tunisia from Africa; Guyana and Bermuda from Central America; Bolivia from South America, and New Zealand and Papua New Guinea from Oceania.
Four countries participated from Europe: Andorra, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and, surprisingly Croatia (World Cup runner-up in 2018), which also went on to win the competition, defeating Egypt 4-2 in a match that attracted more than 85,000 people in Cairo on March 26, 2024.
FIFA Series "unlocks development potential for players, coaches and fans"
The 2026 edition will have more countries and introduce a women's league. The men's competition will take place in Australia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, and Uzbekistan; and the women's edition will take place in Brazil, Ivory Coast and Thailand.
"The FIFA Series is about unlocking development potential for players, coaches and fans, while promoting football's universality and diversity through meaningful matches," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement. FIFA contributes to paying travel and accommodation costs.
The full line up of countries will be announced at a later date. Were you aware of the FIFA Series before?