2023 FIFA WWC: Japan pulls out of race, Australia/New Zealand now hot favourites to host tournament
Tokyo, Japan (PANA) - Australia and New Zealand will be hot favourites to win the hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup with Japan reportedly pulling out of contention to stage the event.
On Monday, local Japanese media reported that Japan was going to withdraw its bid to host the tournament; Australia and New Zealand have a combined bid; with Colombia the only other country now in contention.
The 37-member FIFA Council will vote on the host during an online meeting late on Thursday night Australian time, with a decision to be announced in the early hours of Friday.
On paper, Japan's withdrawal would hand a clear advantage to Australia and New Zealand.
Like Australia, Japan is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and it would appear likely that AFC votes previously split between the competing bids will now go to Australia/New Zealand.
The Oceania Football Confederation, of which New Zealand is a member, has already publicly endorsed the joint bid, with the Southeast Asian ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) recently following suit.
Last week Australia and New Zealand received the highest score in FIFA's technical evaluation of the three bids.
The joint bid scored 4.1 out of five in the report, with Japan awarded 3.9 and Colombia trailing on 2.8. Australia received higher scores than Colombia in all technical criterion.
Last week, South American Football Federation (CONMEBOL) president Alejandro Dominguez and Colombian Football Federation president Ramon Jesurun, wrote to FIFA to object to Colombia bid's evaluation score - but FIFA stood by their report.
Brazil withdrew from the running earlier this month, leaving Colombia as the only South American country in the running.
In its guide to the bidding process, FIFA emphasised its commitment to "conduct an open, ethical and thorough bidding process" to select the host, which includes an open vote.
The tournament presents a major commercial opportunity for Australia – as well as a chance to revitalise football in Australia, and boost the Matildas’ chances of claiming glory backed by a partisan crowd.
The trans-Tasman bid is historic for a number of reasons, particularly due to Australia being from the Asian Football Confederation, while New Zealand is from the Oceania region. Neither of those two confederations has hosted a World Cup, while there has never been a cross-confederation joint bid.
-0- PANA VAO/MA 22June2020
