June 13 – Australia is to launch a bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup after the country’s federal government has pledged its support to stage the tournament.
The Australian government will commit A$1 million ($756,000) to support the initial bid, with a further $4 million ($3 million) reserved should the bid reach a stage with a genuine chance of success. The 24-team tournament could be primarily hosted by either Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth or Canberra according to a News Corp Australia report.
Australian prime minister Macolm Turnbull launched the campaign together with the minister for sport Greg Hunt, the minister for women Michaelia Cash and Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy at Parliament House.
“This is the largest, most prestigious and most competitive contest in a women’s sport globally,” said Lowy. “We want to win the right to host it and then win the tournament itself.”
“The benefits to Australia are many and varied with major economic impact to the wider community and, most importantly, a massive increase in exposure and investment in women’s football,” continued Lowy. “A Fifa women’s World Cup in Australia would inspire a whole new generation of girls and women to take up the biggest participation sport in Australia, for many with the dream of winning the World Cup on home soil.”
FIFA, the word’s governing body, hasn’t outlined the bidding process for the 2023 Women’s World Cup yet, but Colombia, Japan, Thailand and New Zealand have all expressed an interest in staging the event.
The last edition of the Women’s World Cup, in Canada in 2015, was deemed a success with a total match attendance of 1.35 million and a global television audience of 764 million. France will host the next edition in 2019.
Australia attempted to bid for the men’s World Cup in 2018 and 2022, but they withdrew their bid for 2018 before losing out, along with the US, Japan and South Korea, to Qatar for the 2022 edition. Australia has hosted the 2015 Asian Cup in 2015, the 1993 FIFA World Youth Cup and the Olympic football tournaments in 1956 and 2000, but never a World Cup.
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