Brisbane City Council Chief Executive expects 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will help Olympic preparations

Brisbane City Council Chief Executive Colin Jensen has predicted that the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will help promote the city as it prepares to host the 2032 Olympics.

Jensen advised this week “we are currently managing a number of projects to prepare the city for the Games and we look forward to continuing to see these come to life

"The economic and social benefits from hosting a tournament like this are terrific and the tournament provides us with an amazing opportunity to showcase our city to a potential global audience of more than one billion people.”

Set to host eight Women's World Cup matches as of this July, in 2032 the city is expected to the site of 18 of the 32 Olympic and Paralympic venues.

These are set to include Victoria Park/Barrambin, where a major project is set to be unveiled later in the year.

Jensen noted “community consultation on the Victoria Park/Barrambin Master Plan has closed, with the final plan for the city's biggest new park in more than 50 years to be released this year.”

A total of 51,000 respondents took part in public consultation sessions on the 60,000 hectare site which looks set to incorporate a treehouse lookout, natural vegetation and habitat for wildlife.

Jensen admitted that 2022 had been difficult after the COVID-19 pandemic was compounded by flooding in the city after more than 200 centimetres of rain fell on three consecutive days.

He added "the rainfall and flooding we experienced in February was unlike anything seen in Brisbane's history.

"Homes, businesses, communities, parks, infrastructure, and roads were all affected or damaged in some way.

"Brisbane is an incredibly resilient city and what we continue to learn each time we endure hardship is how our people's agility, passion and commitment to innovation ensures our desire to support our community and achieve our vision for Brisbane doesn’t waver."

Image: Brisbane is expected to the site of 18 of the 32 Olympic and Paralympic venues in 2032.