Battle is on to host games at women’s World Cup

THE bidding war to host matches at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup heats up, with the start of virtual workshops between FIFA and the candidate cities in Australia and New Zealand.

The 12 cities in contention to host matches are Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Melbourne and Launceston in Australia, and

Auckland, Hamilton, Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand.

Among the first cities to present their case to FIFA will be Brisbane, whose presentation will include input from Football Queensland president Robert Cavallucci, Suncorp Stadium manager Alan Graham and state government representatives.

Football Federation Australia CEO James Johnson, said the virtual workshops were a “key moment” on the road to the World Cup.

“The ‘As One 2023’ bid proposed 13 Stadiums in 12 host cities, and (Tuesday) marks the commencement of the process to select the final number of stadiums and host cities to host matches at the next FIFA Women’s World Cup,” Johnson said.

“Each candidate host city will have the opportunity to present directly to FIFA regarding the merits of its proposal to host FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 matches.’’

Sydney’s Stadium Australia is favoured to host the final, while Brisbane and Auckland have been mooted to stage semi-finals. The virtual workshops continue until November 4.

After that, FIFA officials will visit all the candidate cities when it’s safe to do so.