MAJOR: Australia and New Zealand are all-but-guaranteed to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup after Japan pulled out of the race this afternoon.
The Japan Football Association is set to withdraw its bid in the race for hosting duties, Kyodo News just reported, meaning that Australia/NZ and Colombia are the final two remaining bidders.
#BREAKING: Japan to end bid to host 2023 soccer Women’s World Cup: sourcehttps://t.co/NdxvrwkbqV pic.twitter.com/SiIrkPKLtK
— Kyodo News | Japan (@kyodo_english) June 22, 2020
This is some extremely promising news – although Australia and New Zealand’s joint bid was given the highest evaluation by FIFA (4.1 out of 5), Japan was our main competition (they were given a 3.9). Comparatively, Colombia’s bid scored a 2.8 rating, respectively.
So there it is, mates. It’s looking damn promising for us.
As for Colombia’s hopes? “They’re not too optimistic,” Bogotá-based football writer Carl Worswick told The World Game. “They know they are the big outsiders.”
“It’d mean the world to me,” Jada Whyman told ABC about the potential for the World Cup to be held Down Under. “Getting into the game at 10 and seeing what the Matildas were then and what they are now today… They deserve everything that they’ve earnt over the past five years and the work that they’ve put in for them; they’ve been fantastic and to be part of it would be awesome.”
For now, we wait with bated breath and alarms set: the official announcement is slated for 2AM on Friday.
