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Australia, New Zealand to co-cost 2023 Women’s World Cup
Australia and New Zealand will be the first co-host of the FIFA Women's World Cupir

Australia, New Zealand to co-cost 2023 Women’s World Cup

The FIFA Council, per a 22-13 vote, chose the joint bid of the two neighbouring countries ahead of South America’s Colombia during their video conference meeting held on Thursday.

The topurnament runs from July 3 to August 20, 20203.

The verdict was announced by the FIFA President, Gianno Infantino moments after the meeting via videoconference due to the COVID-9 pandemic, which has seen many countries impose travel restrictions.

It will not only be the first time that the Women’s World Cup is being co-hosted, but also the first to be hosted by confederations, Australia representing Asia and New Zealand from Oceania.

Bids
The campaign to host the 2023 turnament began in March 2019, with as many as nine countries showing interest, including South Africa, a proposed unified bid from North and South Korea which was not formally tabled.

Officially four countries -- Brazil, Japan, Colombia and the joint bid from Australia and New Zealand – were submitted and went through the vigorous evaluation process.

The robust evaluation process included a technical evaluation: an assessment of the main infrastructure and commercial criteria, applying an evaluation system established by FIFA.

Also, the evaluation considered the risks associated with certain criteria, including but not limited to human rights and sustainability, applying a specific rating; as well as a summary of relevant information provided in the bid, such as the hosting vision and strategy, highlighting potential issues (without a technical evaluation or risk assessment).

All four with previous successful tournament hosting records, made it to the final stage for selection, however, on June 8, Brazil withdrew from the race and decided to back Colombia’s bid.

On June 22, days before the final announcement, Japan who hosted the 2012 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, also withdrew from the contest, leaving the South Amercians and the eventual winners in the contest and which was decided by the overwhelming endorsement from 22 out of the 35 FIFA Council members.

Though per jurisdiction, Australia and New Zealand belong to different Confederations, the former competing in Asia and the latter, in the Oceania confederation, the two are close neighbours and decided to poll resources to host the expanded WWC in 2023.

Expanded World Cup
The 2023 Women’s World Cup will have 32 teams competing, eight more than the 24 that competed in the 2019 tournament staged in France and which was declared as a huge success by FIFA. FIFA is yet to announce the number of slots each confederation would have with the expanded numbers which have progressed from the initial 12 teams in the first tournament in 1991.

Since 1991, the tournament has seen a steady progress in the number of participating teams with a record 24 at the 2019 tournament staged in France.

Apart from Oceania confederation which has not been able to get its slot increased from one, the other five confederations have had their numbers increased with each increment, Europe and Asia being the biggest winners with Africa earning a modest gain.

From five slots in 1991, Europe now has eight slots, while Asia has had its slots increased from two in 1991 to three in 2011 and now five.
Africa’s single slot in 1991 and 1995 was claimed by Nigeria. In 1999, it was increased to two and saw Ghana’s Black Queens qualifying for their debut tournament at the 1999 tournament.

In 2015, Africa’s slot was again increased to three for the 24-team tournament.

Host teams
With the competition expanded, there was the need for the countries bidding to host to have the facilities and the joint bid from two countries, that have a rich history in hosting international competitions, looked more convincing.

Both known for their successes in Rugby, Australia and New Zealand have also successfully hosted FIFA competitions and other competitions
Australia hosted the 1993 FIFA World Under-20 Championships and also the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Matildas as the national team is nicknamed, have consistently participated in the Women’s World Cup since making their debut at the 1991 tournament, but struggle to go past the group stages. Their best outing was at the 2019 tournament where they reached the Round of 16.

New Zealand on the other hand, hosted the maiden edition of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008 and the 2015 FIFA Youth tournament for males Under-20.

Known as the Ferns, the New Zealanders have been at every Women’s World Cup since their debut appearance at the 2007 tournament, but have never gone past the group stage.

As co-hosts, both countries will be exempted from the qualifying campaigns to select the 30 other participating countries that will join them.

 

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