2014 FIFA World Cup consecutive title won by a European team, after Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010. In March 2003, FIFA announced that the tournament would be held in South America for the first time since 1978, in line with its then-active policy of rotating the right to host the World Cup among different confederations. With the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa, it would be the second consecutive World Cup outside Europe, which was a first for the tournament. It was also second in the Southern Hemisphere. Only Brazil and Colombia formally declared their candidacy but, after the withdrawal
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup China. At the same time the FIFA announced that the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup would be awarded to China in its place. On 26 May 2003, FIFA announced the United States would host the tournament. Because the United States had hosted the 1999 World Cup, it was thought the United States could best organize the tournament in the little time remaining before the October scheduled start. In addition, women's soccer boosters in the United States hoped that interest generated by the tournament would save the U.S. women's professional league, the Women's United Soccer Association, from folding. In compensation for