In new success for Asian Football Confederation: Australia and New Zealand to host 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

ZURICH: The world’s biggest women’s football event will return to Asia, after Australia and New Zealand were confirmed as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup co-hosts on Thursday.

The FIFA Council selected the historic joint bid ahead of an application from Colombia by a margin of 22 votes to 13, meaning an AFC Member Association will host the tournament for the first time since 2007.

The co-hosting arrangement between the AFC’s Australia and New Zealand, of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), will see the FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted across multiple confederations for the first time.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will also be the first senior World Cup, for men or women, to be hosted in Oceania.

Australia and New Zealand’s appointment as co-hosts comes after their joint bid received the highest rating in FIFA’s Bid Evaluation Report earlier this month, with organisers confident of breaking attendance records. The trans-Tasman bid also boasted modern stadiums and a long-standing commitment to the women’s game from both organising federations.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the first edition of the competition to feature 32 teams, up from 24 at last year’s edition in France.

Asia has hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup on two previous occasions, with China PR organising the first edition of the tournament in 1991, as well at the highly successful 2007 Finals.