Australia and New Zealand will host the next FIFA Women’s World Cup. You. Bloody. Beauty.
Fears about a repeat of 2010 following late reports of support for the Colombian campaign ultimately weren’t realised, and the held breaths of two nations were collectively released upon waking up this morning.
In awarding hosting rights for the 2023 tournament to the trans-Tasman bid overnight, the FIFA Council has given Australian football something very rare indeed: good news.
There’s been precious little for the sport’s fans to properly cheer in recent and even not-so-recent times. Without going through the dreariness of cataloguing those woes – this is a happy column, after all – suffice to say this is the best news the sport has had since at least the 2015 Asian Cup and probably since the 2006 World Cup.
It’s something all fans across and even outside the sport can get right behind.
Australia has time and again shown itself capable of hosting excellent major sporting events. Since 2000 we’ve had – to name but a few – an Olympics, two Commonwealth Games, the Asian Cup, and world cups of the rugby, cricket and league varieties. All well run, all well supported.
There’s little doubt the 2023 World Cup will tick both of those boxes too. The Matildas enjoy massive backing from the Australian sporting public and have done for some time. It was only earlier this year (even if it seems half a lifetime ago) that we saw how wholeheartedly this country is prepared to support a national team playing a major tournament on home soil when 86,174 fans packed into the MCG to see the Australian Women’s Cricket team lift the World T20 trophy.
While it would be unfair to burden the Matildas with expectations of a cross-code repeat performance, the core of that side will be in their prime in 2023. Sam Kerr, Steph Catley and Emily van Egmond will be 29, Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso 28. Ellie Carpenter has just signed for Lyon at age 20 – it’ll be two World Cups until she reaches her peak.
Ellie Carpenter. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
It’d be unfair on the team to throw expectations and predictions their way so far out from the tournament, not to mention downright foolish – we all remember far too well how much can change less than six months out from a World Cup, let alone three years. Even so, there’s every reason to hope for a strong showing at home when the tournament eventually begins.
None of this even begins to touch on the wider impacts of the tournament – a boost for the women’s game and women’s sport in general, rejuvenated support for and coverage of football, heightened participation, (hopefully) providing a line-in-the-sand moment for the sport to move forward under the new leadership after years of governance squabbles and turmoil, a nice little sugar hit for the FFA coffers, and finally being able to leave the 2010 debacle in the past. If there are any negatives to this, I can’t see them.
Plus, what Australian sports fan wouldn’t want to have such a big tournament on our shores? Few events can match the magnitude of the Women’s World Cup. The long-running men’s equivalent can, of course, and surpasses it. So too the Olympics.
Other than those? It’s hard to find one.
The rugby fan in me wants to point out that sport’s World Cup, but while last year’s brilliant tournament in Japan drew more spectators than the Women’s World Cup a few months earlier (1.84 million tickets sold to 1.16 million) it fell comparatively short on the broadcast front, its “more than 857 million” less than the 1.12 billion who tuned into France 2019.
Not that comparing those two tournaments is the point. The point is the Women’s World Cup is now a massive tournament.
Having it in Australia, with local crowds cheering on a competitive Matildas side, is going to be a considerable boost for football in this country. But perhaps more importantly, it’s just going to be a hell of a lot of fun.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
#Lionheart FIFA control all that stuff though. How much does the host confederation get? (is this a 'split' across Aust-Asia and NZ-Oceania??). Anyway - interesting to see that the AFL venues were off limits because even for this event FIFA have such unreasonable lead in requirements for 'clean stadia'......I suspect they even need to replace all the loo paper with FIFA approved/licensed product!!
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
I'm a Aussie that lives in Australia that Supports the Phoenix
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Good luck with the new stadium concept. I would like to see it built at AO2 but it can't be built in time for the WC and it would help if the current stadium was filled on a regular basis!
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
And herein lies the issue with sports fans in this country. They fail to recognise that $ rule the roost, especially for businesses like Fox and other media, and they will focus upon sports that deliver them the highest $/profits. Demand from customers will drive coverage, not some minority groups with a chip on their shoulder and a delusion about how significant their sport is in this country! Sheesh.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Your key point is about the sports that "we so love" not the sports with limited appeal!
Micko
Roar Rookie
Exactly. The problem is they’re desperate to play and beat us in sport as they have a giant chip, and we take up a huge space in their heads. After the bushfires last year they quickly piped up saying: “Let’s have a charity match friendly?!” FFA responded: “Um, sure. It’ll have to wait till some time in 2022 though. Is that alright?” Kiwi response: :unhappy: :unhappy: :unhappy:
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
if i were a kiwi i would want Australia to stay in AFC so NZ could auto qualify for the mens world cup rom 2026
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
it was a good game, i think EL is in reach but ill also be happy if we can finish above Woolwich, miss poch also but i think a change was needed and i'm looking forward to next season
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Apologise again for Freo being rubbish but the Sun's are good. I'll take finishing above Arsenal, anything more is a bonus this season. Miss Poch.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Which team? The Matildas?
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Win this 2023 world cup to leverage the hosting right of 2034 World Cup together with NZ again.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Nah, we’ll just get the time of year the tournament is held changed…like Qatar did. :silly:
Kdog
Guest
Won't mean Shiite if we don't do something about the team
Nick Symonds
Guest
Why an Australia-Indonesia World Cup bid is worth it, even if it fails - https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/06/29/why-an-australia-indonesia-world-cup-bid-is-worth-it-even-if-it-fails/
Nick Symonds
Guest
There were talks about Australia and Indonesia making a joint bid for 2034, I don't know if that's still a possibility. Then there's the ASEAN bid. If it was Australia stand alone or Australia-New Zealand then the stadium size requirements would have to be reduced a bit. - ASEAN BID: Interest in soccer in Southeast Asia is continuously growing. According to FIFA, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand formed three of the six territories that made up 50 percent of Asia’s 1.6 billion viewers during the 2018 World Cup. During the 35th ASEAN Summit, Infantino said, "People in your country, businesses in your country, invest 10 times more in European football than football in ASEAN. We need of course to invest in ASEAN." https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/11/10/should-asean-bids-for-the-world-cup.html
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
OFC don't auto qualify for the WC until 2026 but i know what ya mean, the sooner the league goes independent and is lees reliant on the FFA the better
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
it's the suns v freo game i'm hoping the suns can keep it up, hopefully Spurs can at least a EL spot and finish above Woolwich
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Mate, I’m just a sports nut. When the Olympics are on I’ll watch just about everything (perhaps draw the line at Dressage or Synchronized swimming). Completely agree, I really don’t get the hate about football from AFL fans and vice versa. Both are great sports and I enjoy both. Good for you, enjoy the game tonight! Which one is it? If it’s the Freo game, I apologize in advance for how poor my team are currently. Btw nice logo! Another Spurs man!
The real SC
Roar Rookie
Back in 2016, ANZ Stadium have plans to reconfigure the stadium from 83,500 to 70,000. However, I think that the renovations may not go head due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I still think that Health is very important than construction. I would still want to see a bigger crowd of 79 000 in the Women's Final at ANZ Stadium.
The real SC
Roar Rookie
Since 2000, Australia has hosted a lot of major sporting events 2000 - Summer Olympics in Sydney 2003 - Rugby World Cup in AUstralia 2006 - Melbourne 2006 games 2007 - FINA Swimming Championships 2008 - Rugby League World Cup 2015 - Cricket World Cup (joint with NZ) 2017 - Rugby League World Cup 2018 - Gold Coast 2018 Games 2020 - Women's T20 World Cup/Men's T20 World Cup (However, it will be cancelled due to the Covid-19) 2023 - FIFA Women's World Cup. Australia has placed a bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but was beaten by Qatar. I am hoping that Australia would have a chance to win the rights to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.