Australia, NZ favourites to host 2023 women’s World Cup

A decade ago Australia spent millions of taxpayer dollars on a disastrous quest to host the 2022 men’s World Cup, but its football boss is quietly confident that crushing defeat will not be repeated this week.

Australia and New Zealand’s joint bid to host the 2023 women’s World Cup, using the slogan “As One”, is up against Colombia, with the decision due on June 25 after the field was whittled down from 10.

Japan, whose ‘Nadeshiko’ women’s team won the 2011 World Cup, withdrew on Monday, a move seen as taking Australia and New Zealand’s biggest rival out of the race.

Thursday’s announcement by the FIFA Council comes with women’s football, and women’s sport in general, on an upward trajectory. The last women’s World Cup in France was a big success, watched by 1.12 billion people globally.

The next edition will have 32 teams for the first time, up from 24, with pressure on to take it to another level.

Australia and New Zealand both have experience in hosting major events and their bid was regarded as the frontrunner after scoring strongly in FIFA’s evaluation report.

“When you look at our bid, we think it ticks a lot of the boxes,” said Football Federation Australia chairman Chris Nikou.

“Whether that’s infrastructure, or the facilities, whether it’s the legacy or the commercial outcomes for FIFA.

“Or just our genuine engagement with women’s sport and women’s issues ... and Australia and New Zealand are great places to visit too, so as a package we hope it’s a compelling proposition.”

The two countries plan to share the tournament between 12 cities.

Stadiums – a combination of boutique and large – already exist, with the opener in Auckland and the final in Sydney. Tickets will cost as little as US$5 (RM21) with officials confident up to 1.5 million spectators will attend.

Nikou pointed to Australia and New Zealand’s previous success in hosting top events, including cricket and rugby World Cups and Commonwealth Games, as well as the Olympics.

“We’ve got a strong track record of putting on world-class events so I’m very comfortable that we would produce the best ever women’s World Cup,” he said.