Australia will again bid to host a major international football tournament with the federal government pledging its support to secure the women’s World Cup in 2023.
The campaign was launched in Canberra on Tuesday with the backing of Malcolm Turnbull, who said it would be “fantastic” to see the Matildas contest a World Cup on home soil.
The prime minister was joined by the minister for sport, Greg Hunt, the minister for women, Michaelia Cash, and Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy at Parliament House to make the announcement.
The federal government said it would commit $1m to support the initial bid, with a further $4m lined up should the campaign reach a stage at which it is deemed to have a genuine chance of success.
The Matildas are ranked eighth in the world and have reached the quarter-finals of the last two World Cups. The last edition, in Canada in 2015, was deemed a huge success with a total match attendance of 1.35 million and a global television audience of 764 million.
“This is the largest, most prestigious and most competitive contest in a women’s sport globally,” Lowy said. “We want to win the right to host it and then win the tournament itself.
“The benefits to Australia are many and varied with major economic impact to the wider community and, most importantly, a massive increase in exposure and investment in women’s football.
“A Fifa women’s World Cup in Australia would inspire a whole new generation of girls and women to take up the biggest participation sport in Australia, for many with the dream of winning the World Cup on home soil.”
Fifa will announce the bidding process in due course, and Lowy said Australia intended to make a compelling case.
“We know that this will be a challenging process, but we believe that we have the expertise and world class facilities to host a fantastic tournament,” Lowy said.
The last time Australia attempted to win hosting rights for a World Cup was for the men’s tournaments in 2018 and 2022. The 2018 bid was withdrawn before Australia, along with the US, Japan and South Korea, lost out in controversial circumstances to Qatar for the 2022 edition.
Australia has hosted the Asian Cup in 2015, the 1993 Fifa World Youth Cup and the Olympic football tournaments in 1956 and 2000, but never a World Cup.
