Japan reportedly withdraws from Women's World Cup race in huge boost for trans-Tasman bid
Australia and New Zealand's joint Women's World Cup bid team isn't celebrating yet despite reports suggesting its biggest rival has pulled out of the race to host the 2023 World Cup.
Japanese media is suggesting the nation has withdrawn from Friday morning's vote for the 2023 Women's World Cup hosting rights, potentially leaving Colombia and the trans-Tasman bid as the only two choices on FIFA's ballot.
Matildas Lydia Williams and Sam Kerr.Credit:Getty Images
The Japanese Football Association is set to make an announcement late on Monday night. National broadcaster NHK expects it will confirm the bid's withdrawal.
"The Japan Football Association has decided to withdraw its candidacy for the 2023 Women's World Cup," an NHK report suggest. "After this, a temporary board meeting will be held and officially decided."
The Australia and New Zealand bid team declined to comment on the move until after the announcement but sources suggested support for the the trans-Tasman option had gathered significant momentum within the 37-member FIFA Council, which will decide on the winning bid in early on Friday.
The joint bid has received the backing of the ASEAN Football Federation, which has one FIFA council member, Mariano Araneta of the Philippines. Sources suggested it had earned more support throughout Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa and North America.
It follows an announcement from FIFA declaring Australia and New Zealand's bid the strongest of the three on the basis of stadia, facilities, commercial return, broadcast metrics and fan engagement. The trans-Tasman bid received a score of 4.1/5 and was praised for a succinct legacy proposal of bettering women's football and raising participation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan was a close second, scoring 3.9/5. Colombia was ranked third, with a score of 2.8/5, and deemed a high commercial risk.
A Japan withdrawal will also potentially land Australia and New Zealand an additional vote on June 25 in Zurich. Japan's FIFA council member, Kozo Tashima, will be eligible to vote if his home nation is no longer in the race, potentially giving the trans-Tasman bid unanimous support from the Asian Football Confederation, which has seven votes.
The bid already has the backing of the Oceania Football Confederation, which has two eligible voters in Lambert Maltock from Vanuatu and Rajesh Patel from Fiji.
Australia and New Zealand need at least 18 votes to win hosting rights. Should all members from both countries' confederations support the bid, it would require just nine of the 21 votes from North America, Europe and Africa to beat Colombia.
However, the South American nation remains influential within world football and can be assured of all four votes from its confederation, as well as potentially one other from FIFA's Panamanian representative. However, Colombia may have strained relations with the world governing body after Colombian Football Federation president Ramon Jesurun criticised FIFA's report, in particular concerns about terrorism, emergency health services and doping.
Last week, Jesurun suggested the evaluation "draws some erroneous and discriminatory conclusions on three aspects of vital importance for the score of our candidacy."
FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura defended the technical evaluation of Colombia's bid.