Get ready, because The Matilda’s and Football Ferns have been confirmed to co-host the 2023 Women’s World Cup. FIFA, the game’s governing body, shared the exciting news following months of speculation that the two countries would be granted the honour.
Their bid scored 4.5 out of 5 in an evaluation report outlining a plan for the first female 32-team tournament, while rivals Colombia scored just 2.8. Japan, the other country in the running, dropped out of the race on Monday.
“It was a choice between two countries – Australia and New Zealand – where women’s football is already strongly established, and a continent where it still has to be firmly implanted and has a huge development potential,” Europe’s confederation, the UEFA, wrote in a statement.
The event will take place from July 10 to August 10, 2023, with the opening match played at Auckland’s Eden Park. The final is set to be held at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
“I’m so excited. I’m now starting to think about what it will be like to be a player at a homeworld cup, it is just surreal,” Matildas defender Steph Catley said while watching the live-streamed announcement from Zurich, Switzerland. “It’s giving me goosebumps.”
Goalkeeper Lydia Williams told ABC News Breakfast, “We’ve had to slog it out pretty tough over the last five or six years and to get this amazing result, I think, is just incredible, not only for women’s football and our team, but for football in Australia.”
She added, “The fact that it’s so multicultural, there are so many different people that play the game, I think it’s just going to grow football in Australia and New Zealand to have the next generation coming through.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also weighed in on the exciting news, tweeting: “For the first time in history, Australians and New Zealanders will be able to experience a global football tournament, right here on home soil. How Good!”
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