ZURICH -- FIFA has picked France to host the Women's World Cup in 2019.
The FIFA executive committee awarded France the hosting rights over South Korea.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced the decision Thursday, bringing the tournament back to Europe after Germany served as host in 2011.
The 2015 tournament kicks off in Canada on June 6 with 24 teams for the first time. Japan is the defending champion after winning a 16-nation tournament four years ago.
France will choose nine stadiums from 11 candidates, though Lyon will host the opening match and final.
FIFA also chose France to host the Women's Under-20 World Cup in 2018, which will be played in four venues in the Brittany region.
"It's an important decision for women's football, and even for French football," French Football Federation president Le Graet, 73, said. "It's a very, very high level competition that has been given to France by FIFA today. I'm very happy. There are lots of people who love women's football, our national team projects a good image, they play well, they're really good to watch. It helped us a lot to convince FIFA that France is a great country for women's football."
Eleven cities have put themselves forward to stage games -- Auxerre, Grenoble, Lyon, Le Havre, Montpellier, Nancy, Nice, Reims, Rennes, Paris and Valenciennes -- and nine will actually stage matches with Lyon's soon-to-be-opened Stade des Lumieres providing the backdrop to the opening game.
Le Graet said Lyon would likely be the only city to find itself among the 10 Euro 2016 venues and those organizing games in 2019.
"There are so many towns that have invested in football in recent years, with slightly smaller capacity venues, but which are still up to norms. So I think it's good to have Euro 2016 in certain cities and the World Cup in others, with the exception of Lyon.
"I think we'll make Le Havre, Valenciennes and Grenoble happy, and Montpellier, of course, as they have been pioneers in women's football."
