Trailblazing football president says OZ / NZ World Cup would be 'a historic tournament of firsts'

The bid was recently given a glowing endorsement by FIFA themselves, who's 4.1 out of 5 rating placed it well above Japan and Colombia.

Now New Zealand's football president, Johanna Wood, says that the technical aspects are only a piece of the overall puzzle.

“We hosted a very successful inspection visit 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," she said.

“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."

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Wood says that the two nations' proud history of female equality separates them.

"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," she said.

“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.”