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Pictured: Australia’s National Women’s Soccer Team, The Matildas. Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.
In June last year, the Government provided $1 million to FFA to start work on the bid. The additional federal funding would enable FFA to develop the best possible bid to host the Women’s World Cup (WWC) in Australia.
“An Australian bid has every chance of success. We have world class female footballers, we can provide world class venues and a world class experience for participants and spectators around the world,” Minister McKenzie said.
Minister O’Dwyer said Australia’s bid would be strengthened by its commitment to women’s sport as a whole, and the success of the national women’s football team, the Matildas.
“The Matildas went from strength to strength in 2017 and are now ranked 4th in the world,” Minister O’Dwyer said.
“Having incredible role models like the Matildas is fantastic for Australia’s sporting community. Their success encourages women of all ages to get active, get involved and participate in their favorite sport.”
“We have a fine example in Samantha Kerr who was not only the highest goal scorer in the inaugural 2017 Tournament of Nations which the Matildas won, but was also named 2018 Young Australian of the Year.”
Australia had proven its ability to deliver major sporting events, with the success of the 2015 Asian Cup men’s football tournament and the 2015 Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
“The Commonwealth Games in April on the Gold Coast will build on these successes, and help ensure that Australia is among the top contenders to host the Women’s World Cup,” Minister McKenzie said.
Minister McKenzie said hosting the WWC would bring multiple benefits to Australia. As well as a positive impact on women’s participation in sport at all levels, from grassroots to high performance and sport as a whole, it would bring substantial economic, cultural and community opportunities.
The proposed location or locations of the Women’s World Cup has yet to be determined, with strong interest from a number of states.
FFA Chief Executive Officer, David Gallop AM, attended the announcement in Canberra on Tuesday.
“I think it’s fair to say that the Westfield Matildas have become Australia’s favourite team over the past year and they are inspiring girls and boys around the country to take up football, which is already the biggest participation sport in Australia,” Mr Gallop said.
“We believe that hosting the world’s biggest women’s sporting event, the FIFA Women’s World Cup, would bring enormous benefits to the Australian community, not only promoting healthy, active lifestyles but inclusion and gender equality.”
“We also believe hosting the tournament in 2023 would provide economic benefits and years of trade and diplomatic opportunities for Australia. The last FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted by Canada in 2015, was attended by 1.35 million people and had a global television audience of 764 million, with 80 million of those in China.”
FIFA is yet to release the bidding documents but it is expected that expressions of interest will be required around May this year with final bids to be submitted around October 2018.