Cape Town — Fifa, the international governing body of football, on Friday launched the most robust and comprehensive bidding process in the history of the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
A week after Fifa held their 73rd Fifa Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, it became clear that the three parties made it known they will bid for the 2027 edition of the Women’s World Cup. The parties are Brazil and South Africa as well as a joint bid from Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
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The bidding process properly kicks off on in just under a month when Fifa’s 211 national associations will be asked to submit their expressions of interest. The deadline is 21 April, 2023.
A series of processes will follow until 17 May, 2024 when Fifa, arguably the most prestigious sports organisation in the world, will announce the name of the 2027 tournament host.
The 37-member Fifa Council, the main decision-making body of the organisation, will select up to three bids. Once these bids have been announced, they will have another opportunity to confirm their interest in the bidding by submitting the Bidding Agreement.
This document will be based on the Bidding Regulations and the decision by the Fifa Council regarding the content, agreements and information required to be included in the bid must be submitted by 19 May 2023. It will set out in detail the content, agreements and information required to be included in the bid.
Next Fifa will invite the interested parties to a bid workshop and observer programme, in August during the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. The goal of the workshops will be to provide all the relevant operational, legal and other information on the bidding process and/or the staging and hosting of the competition.
The next important date on the 2023 calendar is 8 December when the member associations will be required to submit their official bids to Fifa.
In 2024, the bidding process reaches its climax, and the first important date is in February when Fifa will announce details to organise on-site inspection visits to bidding countries.
Next up will be Fifa’s Bid Evaluation Report which will be published in May 2024. The report will be based on an unbiased assessment, taking into account Fifa’s experience of hosting and staging previous events.
The report also reports on its findings after examining and comparing bids to select the best offer to acquire goods, works and services necessary to achieve the goals of an organisation.
Fifa secretary general Fatma Samoura, the first woman secretary general of Fifa, said the process for the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2027 maintains all key elements from the successful Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 bidding process.
In the interest of openness, Fifa will allow for the publication of key content and documentation, the inclusion of robust rules of conduct and the implementation of a comprehensive evaluation model.
“The Fifa Women’s World Cup 2027 will build on the legacy of the record-breaking edition that Australia and New Zealand are due to be organising in a few months,” said Samoura.
“In line with Fifa’s commitment to women’s football, this bidding process sets new standards and puts us on track to host an outstanding event in 2027 on and off the pitch.”
After last week’s congress in Rwanda Samoura, a former United Nations employee, spent some time in her native Senegal to promote women’s football among other things. On Friday she attended the laying of the foundation stone of the Demba Diop Stadium, a dedicated women’s football venue.
Samoura also had a meeting with Macky Sall, the president of the Republic of Senegal. She appealed to him to offer greater support for women’s football and match the backing given to the men's national teams who lifted the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, the African Nations Championship and the CAN Under-20 titles.
Although the bidding process has been clearly defined, Fifa may stage additional seminars or workshops as it deems fit. There is a thought that it might be beneficial to stage a dedicated information workshop for representatives of the governments and the competent local, regional or national governmental authorities in the host country (in case of a single bid), or host countries (in case of a joint bid).
From experience, Fifa has learnt that their support is important during the bidding process and for the successful hosting and staging of the competition.
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This will also present an opportunity to provide the representatives of these authorities and the member associations with comprehensive legal information on their rights and obligations relating to their necessary support for the competition.
Brazil may have a head start on their rivals because they had all the bid’s building blocks in place for the 2023 showpiece but then withdrew their bid at a late stage.
Recently Brazil’s Sports Ministry confirmed the country’s bid and said it was ready to compete with a joint bid by Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and another bid by South Africa.
Two of Brazil’s major cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have already both expressed interest in hosting the final.
IOL Sport