Unlike the open vote held for the 2026 men's tournament, FIFA is set to revert back to the way France won hosting rights for 2019 with a secret ballot.

But it won't happen until March 2020. 

The FIFA Council, who will be voting, is male dominated with only six of its 37 members being women and none are Australian.

The decision also means that the 2019 World Cup will conclude without knowing for the next host will be. 

"FIFA believes that women's football still has even more potential for growth and we look forward to receiving hosting submissions for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, to see how potential host countries will aim to promote the ultimate competition in women's football, and create a sustainable legacy that will inspire upcoming generations of young girls and women to get involved in the game," said FIFA Chief Women's Football Officer Sarai Bareman.

Expressions of interest from potential hosts can be made until March 15 this year but its likely Colombia, South Africa, New Zealand and Japan will also put their hands up from previous reports.

Football Federation Australia declared its intentions in June 2017 to host the 2023 event and launched their Bid website, AusBid2023.com, late last year. 

Today, FFA reaffirmed their intentions to host the event.

“Hosting the FIFA Women's World CupTM would provide even more opportunities for women and children to play the world game. This bid is a strategic play towards increasing female participation at all levels, and supports our ambition to make football the number one sport in the nation,” FFA CEO David Gallop said.

The federal government has pledged $5 million to assist Australia's bid. 

The key dates of the bidding process are:

15 March 2019: Deadline to submit the completed expression of interest form
18 March 2019: FIFA to dispatch the bidding registration and overview document
16 April 2019: Deadline to submit the completed bidding registration to FIFA
18 April 2019: FIFA to dispatch hosting documents to the member associations that have returned the bidding registration by the above deadline
4 October 2019: Submission of the bid book, the signed hosting agreement and all other hosting documents to FIFA
March 2020: Expected appointment date of the host(s) by the FIFA Council