FIFA declared that the joint bid from Australia and New Zealand was the highest-rated amongst all the bids for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. After Brazil backed out of the bid due to financial issues arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the remaining bid from Australia-New Zealand, Japan and Colombia were evaluated by FIFA.
The two key criterions for evaluation of bid are Infrastructure and Commercial. The scoring system is divided into these criterions with the weightage of Infrastructure at 70% and Commercial at 30%. FIFA calculates the overall score for each criterion based on the result of the weighted sub-criteria.
FIFA said Australia-New Zealand scored 4.1 points from a maximum five in evaluating its project plan for the first expanded Women’s World cup. Japan scored 3.9 while Colombia scored 2.8 though it still qualifies for consideration by FIFA’s ruling council. On June 25, FIFA will pick the winner. The votes by the 37-member panel will be made public.
FIFA rated the joint bid from Australia-New Zealand as the most commercially favorable while also the complexity was cross-border working was noted. Japan’s experience of hosting big events was praised, although Japan prefers to host the World Cup in June-July instead of FIFA’s preferred July-August dates. Colombia met FIFA’s minimum requirements, but the plan needs a huge investment in just 3 years’ time.
France hosted the last Women’s World Cup in 2019 which was a 24-team tournament. The winners of the bid will succeed in France. The bid-winning nation will also become the first host to have the 32-nation Women’s World Cup.
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