Four bids to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup were officially submitted to FIFA by the Dec. 13 deadline, the international governing body announced on Friday. Brazil, Colombia, Japan and a joint bid between Australia and New Zealand each submitted bid books to host the tournament. The host will be selected by the 37-member FIFA Council at a June 2020 meeting in Ethiopia.
The 2023 World Cup will be the first women’s edition of the tournament to feature 32 teams, an increase from 24 which received fast-track approval following the success of the 2019 World Cup. Four official bids for the tournament is the most since the inaugural edition in 1991.
FIFA will conduct inspections in January and February of 2020 and, it says, publish the evaluation reports on FIFA.com. All four bid books and executive summaries have been made public.
Argentina, Bolivia, South Africa and South Korea (with talk at one point of a joint bid with North Korea) expressed initial interest in hosting the 2023 tournament but failed to submit formal bids. South Africa president Danny Jordaan said this week that South Africa will focus on hosting the 2027 edition. The eight previous editions of the Women’s World Cup were all held in either Asia, Europe or North America (twice each in China and the United States).
The winning 2023 World Cup bid will have only three years to prepare for the tournament. Each of the past four Women’s World Cup hosts have had roughly four years to prepare. By comparison, FIFA selected the U.S., Mexico and Canada joint bid for the 2026 Men’s World Cup in June 2018, eight years ahead of the tournament.
FIFA says that each ballot and the related votes for the World Cup host will be made public. Full details of the bidding process can be found here. Infrastructure accounts for 70 percent of the evaluation process; commercial criteria accounts for 30 percent.
Details of each bid
Football Federation Australia and New Zealand Football: Bid Book | Executive Summary
Brazilian Football Association: Bid Book | Executive Summary
Colombian Football Association: Bid Book | Executive Summary
Japan Football Association: Bid Book | Executive Summary
