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Five countries bid for 2019 Women’s World Cup, including England, New Zealand

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Japan 2011 World Cup trophy

Photo by AFP/Getty

By CAITLIN MURRAY

The bids for hosts for the 2019 Women’s World Cup are in – and there’s more competition than the last time around.

Five countries have submitted preliminary bids for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup: England, France, Korea Republic, New Zealand and South Africa, FIFA announced Friday. The final signed bid documents are due Oct. 31 with FIFA’s Executive Committee selecting a host in early 2015.

South Africa may be the least likely to be awarded the tournament though. They were the only bidder to have not expressed interest in hosting the U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2018, an event usually paired with the World Cup to come the following year.

The bidding for the tournament closed last month, but FIFA had reportedly declined to reveal who placed bids.

None of the countries up for hosting the 2019 World Cup have ever hosted the women’s tournament before, which FIFA introduced in 1991.

The multiple bids mark a departure from the upcoming 2015 World Cup, where Canada was the only bid and won the rights if for no other reason than by default.

Canada’s 2015 bid, which FIFA approved, included artificial turf in all their stadiums, which has been controversial. U.S. Women’s National Team forward Abby Wambach has led the chorus of player complaints, calling it gender discrimination and a bad decision for players.

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What do you think of this news? Which country would you like to see host the 2019 World Cup? Which country would do the best job with the tournament?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. id love to see Korea host it or New Zealand but the latter is so far away from everywhere else. Can SA actually host?

    lota of rapes in that country? i know politics shouldnt interfere but come on. perhaps only pro-women nations should host this tournament? if Saudia Arabia bid to host, who would go?

    but Korea is ideal to me. and glad to see this tournament bring prestige to the game. they recently upgtaded the tournament to 16 teams

    Reply
  2. It’s worth noting that South Africa already will be hosting the 2016 U-20 WWC, so expressing interest in the 2018 edition would’ve been kinda redundant anyway, since the chances FIFA lets the same country host a biennial tournament twice in a row would be very low. I think South Africa will be considered on the same playing field as the other countries, though it really is England’s or France’s to lose. I hope it goes to France, their NT shows the most promise, so I think they’d pack the stands better than England.
    Interesting to see that Australia, Brazil, and Poland ultimately aren’t on this list, what with their rumored interest earlier.

    Reply

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