ZURICH: FIFA have registered four bids to host the Women’s World Cup in  2023.

Brazil, Colombia and Japan have each submitted individual bids plus a cohosting bid from Australia and New Zealand.

The four submissions come amid “an unprecedented interest” from member countries, FIFA said, with the upcoming edition of the tournament set to be the first to feature 32 teams.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “France 2019 was certainly a watershed moment for women’s football, and now it is FIFA’s responsibility to take concrete measures to keep fostering the game’s incredible growth.”

The most recent women’s World Cup in France enjoyed record TV audiences and high attendances, with the United States winning a record fourth title.

FIFA will evaluate the potential hosts during January and February, before the FIFA Council selects the winning bid at its June 2020 meeting in Addis Ababa.

FIFA statement:

—- The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ bidding process, which has seen an unprecedented interest from member associations, has reached an important milestone, with the following four bids having been submitted by the deadline of 13 December 2019:

·  Joint submission by the Football Federation Australia and New Zealand Football

·  Submission by the Brazilian Football Association

·  Submission by the Colombian Football Association

·  Submission by the Japan Football Association

All of the bid books, along with their respective executive summaries, are available on FIFA.com.

FIFA will now implement an assessment process, including inspection visits to the member associations which are expected to take place across January and February 2020. Once finalised, the evaluation report will be published on FIFA.com and all eligible bids will be presented to the FIFA Council, which is set to select the host(s) of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 at its meeting in Addis Ababa in June 2020.

Following on from the astounding success of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in France and the subsequent unanimous decision by the FIFA Council, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 will be the first edition of the women’s showpiece to feature 32 teams.

“France 2019 was certainly a watershed moment for women’s football, and now it is FIFA’s responsibility to take concrete measures to keep fostering the game’s incredible growth. With the FIFA Women’s World Cup generating an unprecedented interest across member associations, we are ensuring that the process to select the hosts is seamless, objective, ethical and transparent. By the time the FIFA Council announces the hosts, there should be no doubt whatsoever as to why that choice was made,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Key topics and evaluation

The bid books cover a wide range of topics important to FIFA’s assessment, such as the event vision and key metrics, event infrastructure, event services, commercial matters, and human rights and sustainability.

FIFA has developed a robust evaluation model for the bidding process that comprises the following key components:

·  risk assessment: an assessment of the risks associated with certain criteria, applying a risk rating

·  technical evaluation: an assessment of certain infrastructure and commercial criteria, applying an evaluation system established by FIFA

·  description: a summary of certain relevant information provided in the bid and highlighting potential issues (without a technical evaluation or risk assessment)

The technical aspect of this bid evaluation model includes an objective scoring system to rate and weight each of the infrastructural and commercial-related criteria.

A full overview of the bidding process, including details about the evaluation model and scoring system, is available in the following Guide to the Bidding Process for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™.

The selection of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 host(s) by the FIFA Council will be open and each ballot and the related votes will be made public.

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