Japan Withdraws Hosting bid for 2023 FIFA Women World Cup

The Japan Football Association decided to withdraw its name from the hosting bids of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The announcement came on Monday shortly after a meeting by the Japan Football Association officials. 

The last-minute withdrawal has paved the way for Colombia and joint entry of Australia and New Zealand. Football’s governing body FIFA will be announcing the host of the tournament after conducting an online board meeting on Thursday. 

Australia and New Zealand as they gathered the highest overall average of 4.1 out of 5, followed by Japan scoring 3.9 points and Columbia 2.8 points. On June 10, FIFA had released its bid evaluations in which Japan stood out as the frontrunner after Australia and New Zealand. 

JFA Chairman Kozo Tashima said that it makes no use of trailing behind in the votes and end up without the hosting rights as he said, “It was a difficult decision. Not getting support and losing will not lead to anything better in the future,”

Tashima also asserted that one-year postponement of the Olympics also forced JFA to reconsider their bid as it is unlikely that a country could conduct two major events in a short time span. 

Brazil had also withdrawn its name from the hosting bid earlier this month, leaving Columbia as the only South American country in the race for the major FIFA event. 

Now, Australia and New Zealand are the only joint contenders to get the hosting bids from FIFA because Australia alone outscored Colombia in all technical criterion.