Australia and New Zealand will host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in history following a vote at a meeting of the FIFA Congress in Zurich on Thursday.
The joint bid by both countries defeated one by Colombia by 22 votes to 13 votes with no abstentions in the process.
The presidents of FIFA (Gianni Infantino), UEFA (Aleksander Čeferin), CAF (Ahmad Ahmad), CONCACAF (Vittorio Montagliani), AFC (Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa) and the OFC (Lambert Maltock) all voted for the joint bid. Alejandro Domínguez of CONMEBOL was the only regional football president to back Colombia’s bid.
The joint bid proposed that 13 stadiums in 12 cities across Australia and New Zealand be used for the tournament.
Eden Park in Auckland with a capacity of more than 48,000 is scheduled to host the opening game of the tournament while Stadium Australia in Sydney with a capacity of more than 70,000 has been picked to host the final.
Adelaide, Brisbane, Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth are other Australian cities lined up to host matches while Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington are the other cities fronted by New Zealand.
The 2023 tournament will be the first Women’s World Cup to feature 32 teams. The tournament will also make history as the first to be hosted across two confederations (Asia and Oceania).
The tournament is expected to take place between July 10 and August 10, 2023.
