Alignment 2038 or 2042?
Neuendorf is considering the DFB’s application for the men’s World Cup
Updated on November 4, 2025 – 10:38 amReading time: 2 minutes
A men’s soccer World Cup in Germany? The DFB President is not averse.
During his next term as President of the German Football Association (DFB), Bernd Neuendorf is considering the association’s application to host the men’s World Cup in 2038 or 2042. He could “in principle imagine that we will deal with this question in the future and see under what conditions such an application is even conceivable,” said the 64-year-old: “It is clear that there are only a few associations in the world that have the infrastructure “We can confidently say that we have an excellent infrastructure to manage such a tournament with 48 teams and the associated requirements.”
However, Neuendorf emphasized that the DFB’s focus is initially on the application to host the Women’s European Championship in 2029. The Executive Committee of the European Football Union (Uefa) will make the decision on the award on December 3rd. An application for a men’s World Cup is therefore “future music”.
The 2030 (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Spain, Portugal and Morocco) and 2034 (Saudi Arabia) finals have already been taken. The last time a men’s World Cup took place in Germany was in 2006; the Federal Republic previously hosted it in 1974. Last year the DFB hosted the men’s European Championship.
Neuendorf, who has been in office since March 2022, is standing for re-election at the DFB Bundestag on Friday. There is no doubt that the delegates will vote for the sole candidate’s four-year term. Before Neuendorf came to the top of the DFB, the association was rocked by numerous scandals. Neuendorf’s three predecessors (Wolfgang Niersbach, Reinhard Grindel, Fritz Keller) all had to resign, and the DFB was plagued by a structural deficit of almost 20 million euros.
Neuendorf, who also sits on the council of the world association Fifa, wants to use the “DFB Strategy 2030” to clearly define the direction of the association in the coming years. “And we will align our actions with this. This is exactly where money and personnel go,” said the DFB boss: “In order to document the seriousness, we also say: We need an additional vice president for strategy who controls the implementation and implementation of the strategy and monitors compliance.” The Württemberg state chief Matthias Schöck is to take over this position.
In terms of content, the DFB wants to promote the professionalization of the women’s Bundesliga, the promotion of young talent and the strengthening of the amateur sector. In addition, the infrastructure should be improved in collaboration with politicians. Neuendorf places the women’s and men’s national teams at the top of the world: “But we have to make every effort to keep up.”
There is no lack of financial resources. The fact that the now starving association can once again make full use of money is due, among other things, to the new equipment contract with Nike from 2027, the cost-cutting measures that have been introduced, the media contracts and the basic contract with the German Football League (DFL).