FIFA ranks Australia-NZ bid as best for 2023 Women’s World Cup

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The Australia-New Zealand bid to co-host the 2023 Women’s World Cup has been rated the best by FIFA, according to the governing body’s bid evaluation report.

FIFA awarded the Australasian bid 4.1 points from a maximum of five in the report, with contenders Japan scoring 3.9 and Colombia 2.8.

The joint bid was labelled “the most commercially favourable proposition” by FIFA, which will give Australian and New Zealand football fans a sense of belief that a World Cup on home soil may soon be a reality.

FFA Chairman Chris Nikou was pleased with the details of FIFA’s report.

“I am delighted that we have scored so strongly in FIFA’s Bid Evaluation Report and been described as offering ‘the most favourable commercial proposition’,” he said.

“We are confident that our combination of technical excellence, record breaking crowds, commercial certainty, a warm embrace from our 200 different cultures and genuine impact across the region where the legacies will be profound will prove a compelling offer to FIFA and its confederations.

“We are two nations from two confederations, united in proposing a historic and exciting step forward for world football.  It will be a tournament of firsts. The first ever co-confederation hosted FIFA World Cup, the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in the Asia-Pacific region, and the first ever to be held in the southern hemisphere.”

NZF President Johanna Wood said:

“We hosted a very successful inspection visit (in February) and we are delighted by today’s FIFA Bid Evaluation Report which reinforces our belief that we would host a technically excellent FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

“The report demonstrates many of our key strengths and we are very pleased to have received the highest overall average score of 4.1 out of 5. If successful, we will place the interests of the greatest female footballers in the world at the centre of everything we do, to deliver a FIFA Women’s World Cup the global football family can be proud of.

“With technical excellence, commercial certainty and a historic tournament of firsts, Australia-New Zealand offers FIFA a unique opportunity to move the dial for women’s football. We have proven this before and can be trusted to achieve this again.

“In addition, we are nations proud of our commitment to equality and fairness and would embody a FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 built on common humanity through football.”

The FIFA Council will decide the host of the 2023 Women’s World Cup on June 25.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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