New Zealand Football desires to host the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2023 – and it is probably the ultimate possibility it has to accomplish that.
Interim chief government Andrew Pragnell confirmed it would publish an expression of a hobby with the aid of March 15, the closing date set with the assistance of Fifa because it launched the bidding system final week.
Three days after that, Fifa will tell the ones fascinated what is required for them to host the showpiece event of the girls’ sport, while NZ Football will discover if its dream is practical.
“There’s a robust hobby from our facet,” Pragnell said this week. “The real telling date maybe the 18th of March when Fifa will launch the bid files.
“That’s honestly critical for us because the clincher could be making sure that our stadiums are fit for motive and meet the bid specifications. We’re excited and interested, but the 18th of March and what’s within the bid documents might be honestly vital.”
New Zealand has already hosted three age-institution World Cups – the below-17 men’s event in 1999, the beneath-17 women’s game in 2008, and the underneath-20 men’s occasion in 2015 – indeed, one of merely three nations to accomplish that, alongside Chile, Japan, and Canada, which has hosted 4.
The last three hosts of the Women’s World Cup have hosted the other under-20 occasion as part of their arrangements, even though Fifa has now not confirmed that will be the case this time around.
Regardless, the beneath-20 ladies occasion, which presently consists of sixteen groups, is a smaller logistical exercise than the 24-group beneath-20 guys’ event, leaving the 24-crew Women’s World Cup a logical subsequent step.
NZ Football becomes interested in web hosting this year’s event, which changed into provided to France, but withdrew at an early degree and had signaled it was seeking to 2023 as early as 2015.
“I assume our energy lies in a without a doubt sturdy song report of web hosting events,” Pragnell stated.
“What we are dealing with right here is an event that’s developing at a quite tremendous pace. We’re constructive and enthused, and we’ll work with Fifa to make sure we recognize what their expectations are and to discover if there are any areas of hysteria where a few flexibilities may be carried out.”
The first Women’s World Cup was held in 1991, featuring 12 teams. In 1999, for the third version, it grew to sixteen teams, and in 2015, for the 7th version, it increased to 24 units.
With women’s football developing around the sector, it may not be long before it expands to 32 groups, that may close the door to a country of New Zealand’s size – and therefore to Oceania, the most effective confederation but to host a senior World Cup, whether or not within the men’s or girls’ game.
New Zealand is set to host the women’s cricket and rugby World Cups in 2021 and is a leading contender to host the Netball World Cup in 2023, and Pragnell is keen to look football in that blend.
“It’s the logical next step in loads of respects,” he said.
“We’ve got a great track file in phrases of event website hosting; we’ve got several different major wearing events, such as netball, cricket, and rugby coinciding around that duration; it talks honestly nicely to the authorities’ timetable in ensuring there may be gender equality throughout the wearing sphere, and I think it’s an actual opportunity to position ourselves on the map.
“We’re fairly excited about it, and the occasion’s still growing. It is the other aspect. We’re at a point wherein the occasion’s developing at an exponential charge, so we may also only have such a lot of possibilities to host it within the destiny.”
