FIFA Decides 2023 Women's World Cup Host - Federation Focus

(ATR) The host for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be determined on Thursday.

The FIFA Council’s choices have been cut in half in recent days, with Japan bowing out earlier this week and Brazil pulling its bid on June 8.

A joint bid from Australia and New Zealand is now widely viewed as the favorite to defeat Colombia. It would be the first FIFA World Cup to be co-hosted by two separate confederations. Australia is in the Asian Football Confederation while New Zealand is part of the Oceania body.

A Down Under FIFA Women’s World Cup would also be the first to be held in the Asia-Pacific region and the first to be held in the southern hemisphere.

The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand gave a final push on Tuesday with a joint letter to the FIFA Council pledging their support for the bid.

"An Australia-New Zealand FIFA Women’s World Cup would embody our passion for women’s football and proud commitment to equality and fairness, creating a profound and enduring legacy for the future of women’s football within the region and beyond," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.

"We would host a tournament FIFA can be proud of in every way possible: technical excellence, record-breaking crowds, commercial certainty and a warm embrace from our 200 different cultures.

"Football is the game that connects us all. We sincerely hope that an Australia-New Zealand FIFA Women’s World Cup™ will bring us all together again in 2023, when we can all celebrate humanity, community and unity through football."

The joint bid topped FIFA’s evaluation report released on June 10. Australia/New Zealand scored 4.1, Japan 3.9 and Colombia 2.8 on a five-point scale. Brazil had pulled out of the bidding two days before the report was made public.

Should Colombia pull the upset and win the bid, it would mark the first time the Women's World Cup would be held in South America.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be the ninth edition of the event and the first to feature 32 teams, eight more than any of the previous tournaments.

IOC Helps Out Sailing, Surfing Feds

Both World Sailing and the International Surfing Association confirmed this week that they are receiving financial support from the International Olympic Committee.

Neither federation revealed the amount of money involved, but both thanked the IOC for helping them through a difficult period caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

"As a small, self-funded International Federation with limited resources, we have worked very hard to deliver at an Olympic level, and to meet the high expectations and requirements," ISA president Fernando Aguerre said in a statement.

"In the process, we have developed valuable knowledge, which the IOC’s contribution will now help preserve and further develop.

"The IOC’s critical support will enable us to continue to serve the athletes and the sport, as we ride together this most challenging wave of our lives."

World Sailing President Kim Andersen said "I am looking forward to continuing the great partnership between the IOC and World Sailing with a focus on our great sport and our sailors."

IOC President Thomas Bach announced on May 14 that the IOC would provide a financial aid package of up to $150 million for international federations, National Olympic Committees and IOC-recognized entities to help compensate for 2020 revenue that was lost after the Tokyo Olympics were postponed by a year.

Karate Worlds Delayed until 2021

The Karate World Championships have been postponed by a year.

The World Karate Federation decided on Monday to move the sport’s biggest event due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

The 25th edition of the event was to be held from November 17-22 in Dubai. The new dates are November 16-21, 2021 with Dubai remaining the host.

The WKF General Congress which had also been scheduled for this November in Dubai will now take place next year on the eve of the 2021 World Championships.

The decision to delay the event for a year also affects the future calendar. The senior world championships will be contested in odd years moving forward, with the 2022 event in Hungary being moved to 2023.

The World underage Championships will be held during even years, beginning with the 12th World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships in Turkey, which have been moved from 2021 to 2022.

FEI Postpones Endurance World Championships

The Longines FEI Endurance World Championships 2020 have been postponed until May 2021.

The Championships were due to be held in Pisa, Italy in September this year, but the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions on both travel and training of horses has forced the delay.

The FEI Board also agreed to extend the qualification period for the event in order to allow more time for horses and athletes to qualify following the disruption to this year’s FEI calendar caused by the pandemic. Details will be defined and communicated at a later date.

The last Endurance World Championships in Tryon, North Carolina in September 2018 were cancelled during the race due to dangerously high heat and humidity levels.

"Our Endurance community made it very clear to the FEI that they want a World Championships, particularly after losing the last edition at Tryon in 2018, but horse welfare and a level playing field could not have been guaranteed if the Championships had run in September, so it was the best solution to move the Championships to May of next year," FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said in a statement.

Written by Gerard Farek

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