(Reuters) -The second "FIFA Series", sponsored biennial tournaments for mainly lower-ranked and lesser-financed nations, will expand in 2026 and launch a new women's edition, the global governing body said on Friday.
Though some games in the first 24-nation series in 2024 were sparsely attended, others did spark big fan interest, with more than 85,000 turning up for Egypt's tournament finale against Croatia in Cairo which they lost 4-2.
Host nations for the larger 2026 men's series are Australia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Puerto Rico, Rwanda and Uzbekistan, FIFA said, with the final lineup of participants to be given early in the year.
The women's series will debut in Brazil, Ivory Coast and Thailand.
The aim is to benefit national teams lacking opportunities to play teams from other continents, with FIFA contributing to travel costs, accommodation and other logistics.
“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.
Football Australia's interim CEO Heather Garriock welcomed the plans for next year's series. "These matches will play an essential role in preparing the CommBank Socceroos for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 whilst also strengthening our international competitiveness as a whole," she said.
Illustrating the varied levels of interest in the series, in Sri Lanka in 2024, only 550 people turned up to see Central African Republic beat Papua New Guinea 4-0.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
