NZF kicks on with Cup bid

The All Blacks could be blocked from playing a mid-year test at Eden Park in 2023 if New Zealand wins hosting rights for the Women’s World Cup, but NZ Football interim chief executive Andrew Pragnell believes Fifa’s requirement to have exclusive access to six of the country’s major sporting venues is still an achievable goal.

Fifa requires access to six 20,000-plus capacity stadiums from two weeks before the first match they host until five days after the last match they host. It also requires a venue with a capacity of 55,000 to host the opening match and final, and only Eden Park in Auckland with a permanent capacity of 50,000, comes close to meeting that, making it the only viable option.

Exclusive access in the months of July and August could prove difficult though, due to the likely clashes with international and Super Rugby fixtures.

However, after wading through a 104-page bidding overview, Pragnell said the governing body’s hosting requirements were actually ‘‘favourable’’ for NZ Football. Although a clash with rugby is an obvious sticking point, the JulyAugust window in a Rugby World Cup year meant it would likely avoid most of the Super Rugby season and only have to contend with All Blacks fixtures.

‘‘From our initial review of the bid registration document there is nothing to suggest we can’t or shouldn’t [push forward], so it’s really positive,’’ Pragnell said.

‘‘There’s obviously a lot to work through in terms of stadium availability but the early signals we have got from host cities are positive and certainly the shift of the window makes it more positive.

‘‘Given the margins are so close and in the past Eden Park has taken on some extra seating, we will be interested in working with Eden Park to make sure we meet that [55,000 seat capacity] but I would hope that wouldn’t be a significant hurdle.’’

NZ Football has expressed interest in hosting the Women’s World Cup for the first time and on Tuesday it was included on a shortlist alongside Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, South Africa and a joint bid from North Korea and South Korea.

As the All Blacks have played a test at Eden Park every year since 1981 and may have to stage high-profile Rugby Championship away from their spiritual home if the dates do not align, Pragnell said he expected to have discussions with NZ Rugby before submitting a bid registration on April 16.

‘‘The first port of call will obviously be the government and then host cities and stadiums but we can learn a lot from all the other codes who have hosted major events. I expect we will have those conversations even around the bid process and one of our advantages with sport in New Zealand is that we do collaborate across codes, which is not always the case in other countries.’’

The hosting rights for 2023 will be awarded by the 37-member Fifa Council who will conduct a public vote early in 2020.