Japan withdraws bid to host 2023 Women’s World Cup

The Japan Football Association has announced that it has withdrawn its candidacy to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, potentially making the joint Australia-New Zealand bid to the favourite to stage the most prestigious tournament in women's football.

Monday's decision came just three days before a scheduled 25th June vote by the FIFA Council following a campaign that formally began in March 2019 and featured as many as nine prospective countries, including a unified Korean bid that never came into fruition.

Japan Football Association (JFA) Chairman Kozo Tashima told an online news conference on Monday evening "we’ve discussed this multiple times as a board this month ahead of today’s decision.

“I hope everyone understands that we’ve made this decision for the benefit of women’s soccer around the world, and that our fans will continue to support Nadeshiko Japan and the many women’s club teams in the country.”

As reported by The Japan Times, the unexpected move comes just over one week after FIFA released its bid evaluations, scoring Australia-New Zealand highest out of five points with 4.1, followed by Japan at 3.9 and Colombia at 2.8.

While Japan’s bid mostly drew praise for its logistical details including football-specific stadiums in seven of eight proposed host cities, the JFA’s request to reschedule the World Cup from FIFA’s preferred July-August period to earlier in the summer, avoiding the heat of Japan’s high summer, did not appear to impress assessors at the football’s governing body.

Tashima praised the substance of Japan’s bid but revealed that the bid committee sensed a change in attitude among officials after the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to the summer 2021 - a move which increased the possibility of the world’s two marquee women’s tournaments taking place in the same country within a two-year period.

Tashima added “because the Olympics and World Cup women’s tournaments have the same teams - in contrast to the men’s under-23 tournament at the Olympics, there was concern over whether hosting the women’s tournament twice in two years would be perceived negatively."

A JFA statement signed by Tashima noted that neither Colombia nor Australia or New Zealand have hosted a senior-level FIFA tournament, writing that the two remaining bids “would have the advantage of being able to promote the spread of the women’s game by hosting the first Women’s World Cup in South America or the Southern Hemisphere.”

The JFA move means Colombia is the only remaining competitor to Australia and New Zealand’s joint bid.

Japan’s withdrawal comes after Brazil pulled out of the running earlier this month, citing long-term Coronavirus related funding issues.

Japan’s women surprised the USA to win the tournament in 2011 and finished runners-up four years later.

Hosting the World Cup for the first time would have been the highlight of plans to develop the women’s game in Japan over the next three years, including the launch next year of the professional WE (women’s empowerment) League.