Japan Withdraws From 2023 World Cup Race Believing Australia/New Zealand To Be Winners

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will either be held jointly by Australia and New Zealand or by Colombia after Japan today became the latest nation to pull out of the running to stage the ninth World Cup following an extraordinary board meeting ahead of the vote on Thursday.

In a 978-word statement, Japan Football Association (JFA) President Kozo Tajima cited various factors in their decision stating “it is necessary to calmly identify from what perspective the world’s soccer families should consider the factors that determine the venue, and the situations that change over time”.

In the FIFA Technical Report published earlier this month, Japan scored second behind the joint Australia and New Zealand bid, Tajima noted that “in the Evaluation Report published by the International Football Federation (FIFA) on June 10, we think that Japan’s proposal and the environment surrounding football were highly evaluated. On the other hand, it is also necessary to calmly judge that Australia/New Zealand outperformed Japan. Considering all of these things and analyzing everything at the timing just before the vote, it can be said that Japan’s situation in this bid race is by no means optimistic”.

He also suggested that the coronavirus pandemic had not helped Japan’s cause as it had had delayed the 2020 Olympic soccer tournament which will now be held in Japan in 2021. Hosting the Women’s World Cup in 2023 would have meant Japan hosting two global soccer tournaments in three years. “Given these circumstances, there was a strong opinion that hosting the Women’s World Cup in Japan, which has held many FIFA tournaments, would be difficult from the perspective of global spread and development”.

Tajima hinted that Australia and New Zealand are best placed to win Thursday’s vote against Colombia claiming that “joint-hosting, which enables large-scale competitions to be held in more countries, is becoming a global trend in recent years” adding that “it is self-evident that Brazil’s withdrawal on June 8 led to the unification of the votes of the South American Football Federation, and the Asian Football Federation has already announced its support for Australia/New Zealand which will also have a major impact on other continental federations”.

“Over the years, the JFA has been working to promote women’s football throughout Asia, including dispatching leaders, and has been working hard to raise the level of women’s football in Asia to the world level. This time, by withdrawing from Japan’s invitation, I believe that strengthening solidarity in Asia and increasing the probability of invitation to the Asia/Oceania region will also contribute to Asian football. When Australia/New Zealand is finally decided as the venue, there will be no burden or hindrance to Japan in terms of time difference or environment, and it will be a great support for Nadeshiko Japan (the Japanese Women’s National Team) aiming to win the tournament”.

Tajima concluded that the JFA will now look to provide financial support for clubs in Japan affected by coronavirus. “We are further focusing on supporting the professional league and promotion activities to develop women’s soccer, winning medals at the Tokyo Olympics, and FIFA Women’s World Cup. We will do our best to support Nadeshiko Japan to win the 2023 championship”.