Football Ferns fullback CJ Bott is dealing with COVID-19 in Norway where she plays for Vålerenga
New Zealand's hopes of becoming hosts of the 2023 Women's FIFA World Cup have received a huge boost – and the country's success with dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic may also be helping its cause.
NZ Football's joint bid with Australia has been rated as the best of the bidsby the sport's governing body against remaining competing countries Japan and Colombia, with Brazil withdrawing its bid earlier this week.
The transtasman bid received a score of 4.1 out of 5 and was deemed the "most commercially favourable" in the evaluation of plans for the 32-team tournament, with Japan scoring 3.9 and Colombia 2.8.
Ahead of the official decision on June 25, NZ Football boss Andrew Pragnell says he was delighted with the result of the recent report.
"We're enthused by the result of the report but having said that, we're taking nothing for granted at this stage," Pragnell told NZME. "Two and a half weeks to go and the finish line is in sight but we've still got to finish it strong."
Pragnell says there are several factors that make New Zealand and Australia attractive World Cup hosts – and both countries' pandemic response could also play a role in FIFA's decision, despite the tournament being three years away.
"It can't be a bad thing. One of the things that needs to be weighed up is if it's going to be a safe and risk-averse tournament. And the fact that both countries have demonstrated their ability to manage their borders well and put health and safety of their communities as a priority, you would like to think that was a feature."
NZ Football CEO Andrew Pragnell with Michele Cox, Claudia Bunge, Rosie White and Barbara Cox at the FIFA Women's World Cup bid launch. Photo / Photosport
"The key things in this final stage is making sure the critical messages and the critical strengths of our bid is understood by all council members and by the wider international football community, and getting those messages out there.
"In a Covid world, that looks slightly different. It means a lot of Zoom calls with key football stakeholders and key council members so they understand what our bid brings to the table."
Pragnell says an Anzac tournament would be one of many firsts, including being the first hosted in the southern hemisphere.
Apart from the strong infrastructure in place, as well as the "technical excellence and commercial certainties", NZ Football is also proud that the bid is advocating for gender equality in football.
"From my perspective what's the most important is we're championing gender equality and know that we still have a long way to go in that area but we're leading in terms of pay parity and the leadership space as well with a lot of our governance and administrators."
New Zealand would host approximately 45 per cent of the matches if the event comes down under, including four out of the eight groups as well as a quarter-final and a semifinal.
If successful, it would be the first major FIFA World Cup event hosted in New Zealand, after hosting three age group World Cups in 1999, 2008 and 2015.
