Reacting to the United States' 2031 Women's World Cup bid

Full Time with Meg Linehan: A show about women's soccer

The Athletic

News, Soccer, Sports News, Sports

4.8 • 756 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The USA is all but confirmed to co-host the 2031 Women's World Cup. The news is not official just yet but comes after FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in an address that the Americans were part of a lone bid for 2031, while the UK was the sole bidder for 2035. On this week's Full Time Focus, host Jilian Sakovits and the newest member of The Athletic's global women's soccer team, Asli Pelit Basker, react to the news, break down the procedure that remains to ratify the decision while also unpacking what FIFA, U.S. Soccer, and Concacaf need to overcome. PLUS: Charlotte Harpur joins the show to analyze Manchester United's decision to extend the contract of head coach Marc Skinner. Jilian and Producer Theo touch on more NWSL news and what they're looking out for when the USWNT faces Brazil this weekend. _______________ Articles from the show: FIFA confirms U.S.-Mexico, UK as sole bidders for 2031, 2035 Women’s World Cups For 2026 World Cup traveling fans, U.S. visa policy, wait times present roadblocks Women’s World Cup: Why U.S./Mexico pivoted from 2027 to ‘record-breaking’ bid for 2031 Zambia withdraws four NWSL players from matches in China over United States ‘travel measures’ Fan who used hateful language toward Barba Banda banned by Gotham FC Viral goal puts Gerard Pique’s women’s soccer league in the spotlight Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner signs new two-year contract Podcast episodes mentioned on the show: Lily Yohannes: How the teenage USWNT star is meeting the moment USWNT roster breakdown and strategy for Brazil friendlies _______________ HOST: Jillian Sakovits GUESTS: Asli Pelit Basker, Charlotte Harpur PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes VIDEO PRODUCER: Lia Griffin EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen _______________ Get in touch: [email protected] Follow on Instagram and TikTok: @tafulltime Subscribe to the Full Time newsletter here Visit the Yahoo Women's Sports hub here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:22.8	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a very warm welcome to all of you as we get into full-time focus presented by Amazon business.
0:52.0	On both the international and club levels, it's been another huge
0:55.7	week of women's soccer news. On the show today, we'll kick things off by talking about the news
1:00.7	that the USA is expected to co-host the 2031 World Cup, with the UK poised to do the same in 2035.
1:07.7	To do that, I'll be joined by the newest member of the Athletics Global Women's Soccer Team, Asla Peli Basker, and after that, Charlotte Harper joins us to talk about Mark Skinner's new contract with Manchester United.
1:19.1	And before we wrap up, producer Theo and I will fill you in on some more NWSL news and give you a couple extra things to watch for when the U.S. women's national team takes on Brazil this weekend.
1:29.5	Let's get into it.
1:37.3	I've been waiting all week for this part of the show.
1:40.5	I am now thrilled to be introducing the newest member of the Athletics Global Women's
1:45.1	Soccer Team and our full-time family, Asla Pellit Basker. Hi, Asla. Hi, Gillian. How are you?
1:53.3	Oh, I'm so great. I'm so excited to be talking about you. Before we dive into all of the things
1:59.3	that we need to discuss this week, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your soccer journey and what we can be expecting from your coverage?
2:07.2	Of course. And first of all, thrilled to be part of this team that I admire for so long, watching, listening to you guys, reading the articles that this excellent team of journalists produces.
2:18.3	So I was born in Istanbul to a big soccer family.
2:22.3	I'm a Galatasarai fan. One fun fact about me, it's a glorious team that just beat Fenner
2:28.9	Batchez in the big derby. So I think some of our, you know, colleagues are reporting on it.
2:33.3	It's really cool. And then I found myself
	...

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