MX23RW : Tuesday, April 23 07:44:47| >> :600:120751789:120751789:

Australia and New Zealand to co-host 2023 Women's World Cup

Australia and New Zealand to co-host 2023 Women's World Cup
© Reuters
The finals will feature 32 teams for the first time.

Australia and New Zealand will co-host the 2023 Women's World Cup.

The joint bid was chosen by the council of football's world governing body FIFA, which met on Thursday afternoon.

It saw off competition from Colombia, with Brazil and Japan having dropped out earlier on in the process.

Australia and New Zealand's bid received the best score from FIFA's own evaluation report – 4.1 out of five – compared to Colombia's score of 2.8.

The FIFA report described the joint bid as being the most favourable from a commercial perspective.

The 2023 finals will feature 32 teams for the first time, with the bid proposing to use up to eight venues in Australia and five in New Zealand.

It was also the first time countries from different continental confederations had come together for a bid, with Australia within the Asian Football Confederation and New Zealand in the Oceania Football Confederation.

The tournament is due to be played in July and August 2023, and will complete a busy 12 months for the women's game, with the Euros taking place in England the summer before.

That tournament was originally scheduled for 2021, but was put back after the men's Euro 2020 was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

FIFA later confirmed that the Australia-New Zealand bid received 22 of the 35 votes.

All nine UEFA members on the Council, including Football Association chairman Greg Clarke, voted for Colombia despite the bid receiving a far inferior technical score in the bid report.

A UEFA statement read: "Even though the Colombian bid was not the one rated highest technically by FIFA, European members of the FIFA Council felt that it represented a strategic opportunity for the development of women's football in South America thanks to the legacy and increase of attention for the women's game that the tournament would bring to the continent.

"It was a choice between two countries – Australia and New Zealand – where women's football is already strongly established, and a continent where it still has to be firmly implanted and has a huge development potential. It's important to add that European members of the FIFA Council agreed to vote together on major issues as a matter of solidarity."

The president of New Zealand Football, Johanna Wood, said: "We believe we have been given a treasure, and we will look after that treasure.

"We will work towards putting women's football even more front and centre on the world stage."

ID:403875: cacheID:403875:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:7153:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Phil Neville in charge of England on July 2, 2019
Read Next:
Phil Neville declares interest in staying on for another World Cup
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal33235577265174
2Liverpool33228375324374
3Manchester CityMan City32227376324473
4Aston Villa34206871502166
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Newcastle UnitedNewcastle321551269521750
7Manchester UnitedMan Utd32155124748-150
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham34139125463-948
9Chelsea31138106152947
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton321111105250244
11Wolverhampton WanderersWolves33127144653-743
12Fulham34126165054-442
13Bournemouth33119134860-1242
14Crystal Palace3399154256-1436
15Brentford3498175259-735
16Everton33108153448-1430
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3479184260-1826
18Luton TownLuton3467214775-2825
19Burnley3458213769-3223
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3337233188-5716


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!