Australia and New Zealand to stage the 2023 Women’s
World Cup.
A joint bid by New Zealand and Australia won the
rights to stage the 2023 Women’s World Cup on
Thursday, marking the first time a major FIFA
senior championship tournament will be played in
Oceania. The New Zealand-Australia bid received 22 of the 35 votes cast by FIFA Council members on the first ballot to beat a proposal from Colombia, which received 13 votes. Initially nine countries, including Brazil, Japan and Argentina, had expressed interest in staging the quadrennial
women’s world championship. But when Japan and Brazil withdrew their bids earlier this month, it left just Colombia and the New Zealand-Australia proposals on the ballot. The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be the largest ever, featuring 32 teams. It also will be the firstshared by two FIFA confederations. Australia is part of the Asian confederation while New Zealand is in the Oceania confederation.
USA are the defending champion after beating the Netherlands 2-0 in last year final in France.