Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has withdrawn its bid to host the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup tournament after central government said it could not offer financial guarantees in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brazil has been badly affected by the pandemic with more than 742 000 infections and more than 38 000 deaths.
CBF said it will now rally behind fellow South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) member Colombia, who face Australia and New Zealand joint bid and Japan.
The 2023 finals will have a historic 32 teams, up from 24 in the last two versions of the tournament in Canada and France respectively.
“After a thorough evaluation, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) decided to withdraw Brazil’s candidacy to host the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023.
“A combination of factors led to this decision, taken with great responsibility. CBF understands Fifa’s need to obtain such guarantees and knows that they are part of the international entity’s standard protocol, being a fundamental element to provide the necessary security for the realisation of events of this size.
“The federal government prepared a letter of institutional support for Fifa in which it guaranteed that the country was able to host the event from a structural point of view, as it has done in previous events.
“However, due to economic and fiscal austerity, fuelled by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it will not be possible at this moment to sign guarantees as requested by Fifa,” said CBF in a statement published on its official website.
A 37-member Fifa council led by president Gianni Infantino will choose the host via a virtual conference on June 25, with the qualifiers for the ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup finals getting underway from next year.
The Mighty Warriors will be hoping to make a maiden appearance at the finals.
In the last edition of the tournament in France where the United States of America defeated Netherlands 2-0 to lift their fourth title since the inception of the women’s finals in 1991, Africa was represented by Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa.
The inaugural Women’s World Cup finals were held in China with 12 teams.
A total of 510 000 spectators watched the maiden finals but the figures dramatically dropped in the 1995 finals in Sweden, with 112 213 watching the action.
There was an exponential growth in the 1999 finals in the United States which was watched by over 1,2 million.
However the 2015 finals in Canada where the United States won their third title, remains the highest attended event, with 1,4 million fans.
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