New Zealand Football (NZF) is excited about the prospect of hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

NZF have made completed an expression of interest form to FIFA and are one of nine countries alongside Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Korea (who have expressed interest in a joint bid with DPR Korea Football Association) and South Africa.

It is the largest-ever list of MAs to have submitted formal expressions of interest to FIFA with a view to hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, the first edition of which was held in 1991.

New Zealand Football Interim CEO Andrew Pragnell said it would be huge for women’s football in this country if they could host the biggest event in women’s sport.

“They’re talking over a billion views in the FIFA World Cup this year in France. At the rate it's growing, it could be our last chance, so we've got to go all-in,” he said.

New Zealand Football has the Government’s financial backing to host the event, which will use Eden Park as its main venue and location for the final.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup requires a minimum of six stadiums with capacities of 20,000 or more and Pragnell is confident that NZF can meet that requirement.

"The timing of the window is favourable, being in July to August. That's post Super Rugby season, which is good news for us."

Pragnell also pointed to the recent success of the NZ U-17 women at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay in December. The Leon Birnie coached team became the first national team to claim a bronze medal at a FIFA event and many will be vying for spots in the senior squad by 2023.

He also believed that New Zealand has a proven track record of delivering big events. The most recent being the FIFA U-20 Men’s World Cup in 2015 which was a great success.  

(Photosport) 

The next step in the process for New Zealand Football is the official registration which needs to be submitted by 16 April.  The decision on who will host the tournament will be made by the FIFA Council in March 2020.

Sarai Bareman, FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer, said the FIFA Women’s World Cup is an important date on the women’s calendar.  

“Interest in women’s football continues to grow and following this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, it is certain to reach an all-time high,” she said.  

“FIFA believes that women’s football still has even more potential for growth and we look forward to receiving hosting submissions for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, to see how potential host countries will aim to promote the ultimate competition in women’s football, and create a sustainable legacy that will inspire upcoming generations of young girls and women to get involved in the game.”

In line with FIFA’s first ever women’s football strategy, FIFA endeavours to organise a FIFA Women’s World Cup that exploits its full potential while at the same time balancing social, environmental and economic considerations related to the competition.

Since 1991, the FIFA Women’s World Cup has been played every four years. Throughout the past decades, the level of play has dramatically improved, media attention has increased exponentially, and the game has grown in popularity as confirmed by the fact that more than 750 million television viewers watched the 2015 edition of FIFA’s flagship women’s competition.

The tournament plays a key strategic role as part of FIFA’s efforts to double the number of female players to 60 million by 2026.

The key dates of the bidding process are:
16 April 2019: Deadline to submit the completed bidding registration to FIFA
18 April 2019: FIFA to dispatch hosting documents to the member associations that have returned the bidding registration by the above deadline
4 October 2019: Submission of the bid book, the signed hosting agreement and all other hosting documents to FIFA
March 2020: Expected appointment date of the host(s) by the FIFA Council

Article added: Thursday 21 March 2019