Scrutiny on Cup process

Australian fears of hosting rights secrecy

AUSTRALIAN football bosses say they will “carefully” monitor the process for awarding the 2023 Women’s World Cup hosting rights, amid new fears that it will be another one shrouded in secrecy and controversy.

The decision on who will host the tournament in four years won’t be made until next year, and will be the remit of FIFA’S ruling council, a 37strong panel that usually meets in private. After the hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were mired in allegations of bribery and corruption, the award of the men’s World Cup last year was made by all 203 FIFA members in a public vote, with a joint bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada chosen over Morocco’s entry.

Football Federation Australia, currently one of only two confirmed bidders alongside Colombia, expects to learn the detail of the bidding process next month when countries that complete an expression of interest are talked through every step before the final decision in March next year.

Though FFA has not yet been told whether the FIFA vote will be made public, its decisions are not normally subject to public scrutiny.

Officials say they are cautiously optimistic that FIFA’S “substantial reform” will allow for a transparent bidding process, nine years after attempts to land the 2022 World Cup for Australia ended in the humiliation of a single vote.

Qatar was chosen despite a welter of allegations around its bid before and after, and the Garcia Report into the award of the 2018 and 2022 tourna- ments was critical of Australia’s bid.

Some $45m of public money was invested in that, and another $5m has been allocated by the Federal Government to support bidding for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

FFA CEO David Gallop said that Australia had always been aware that FIFA had explicitly changed the rules over the award of only the men’s World Cup – leaving all others in the gift of the FIFA Council.

“The FIFA statutes were amended to reflect a vote of the Congress for the men’s World Cup only, so this doesn’t come as a surprise,” he said.

“We look forward to better understanding the decisionmaking process and hosting requirements for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in April.

“We acknowledge that FIFA has undertaken a substantial reform process.’’