The host of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 will be revealed June 25, the world football governing organization announced Thursday amid concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic might delay the process. The decision will be made during an online meeting of the FIFA Council and will remain “objective and transparent.”
The announcement was originally scheduled to take place at the FIFA council meeting planned for June 5 in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa, but that gathering has since been postponed to September 18 and will instead be an online conference.
As part of its commitment to transparency, FIFA will release evaluation reports of the bids online in early June, and individual member votes will be published on FIFA’s website after the result is made public. Past elections for hosts of the World Cup have been mired in controversy and allegations of vote buying leading to several criminal charges.
“FIFA remains committed to implementing the most comprehensive, objective and transparent bidding process in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said in a statement.
“This is part of our overall commitment to women’s football that, among other things, will see FIFA invest USD $1 billion in women’s football during the current cycle.”
With four bids, FIFA claims this 2023 campaign is “the most competitive bidding process in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
In contention are bids from Brazil, Colombia, Japan and jointly by Australia and New Zealand.
Australia and New Zealand have announced our historic co-confederation bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023!
Together we will unleash a new era for women’s football, creating an enduring legacy for the world game.#AsOne@NZ_Football @FFA @TheMatildas pic.twitter.com/t1q8mrwOci
— AsOne2023 (@AsOne2023) December 13, 2019
Member federations from Argentina and South Africa also expressed interest, along with a joint application by North and South Korea, but ultimately these bids were never forwarded.
France hosted the most recent edition in 2019. The 2023 tournament is set to accommodate a record-breaking 32 nations competing for the global prize.
