The vote on Thursday to decide who hosts the 2023 Women’s World Cup is believed to be tighter than expected after Uefa members of the Fifa council were encouraged to back Colombia rather than the combined bid from Australia and New Zealand.
Despite Australia and New Zealand’s superior score from Fifa’s technical evaluation of the bids, 4.1 to Colombia’s 2.8, the Guardian understands two members of the Uefa delegation rubbished the technical reports in a meeting attended by its Fifa council members and argued that because the Women’s World Cup was a “development tournament” its representatives should back Colombia. Uefa did not respond to requests for comment.
Thirty-five members of the Fifa council will vote and if the nine Uefa representatives join four from Conmebol, the South American federation, in backing Colombia that would give them a head start over a presumed 10 votes guaranteed for Australia and New Zealand.
Australia and New Zealand have received public backing from the Asian Football Confederation, which has seven votes, after the withdrawal of Japan’s bid, and they are likely to secure the two votes from Oceania. They are also favourites to have the backing of Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, who is unlikely to go against the technical reports.
With seven votes from the Confederation of African Football and five from Concacaf, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, to play for, the decision is hanging in the balance.
It is not known whether the Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, will follow the Uefa recommendation or back the bid from Australia and New Zealand, long believed to be the front runner.
On Saturday Fifa defended its technical evaluation of Colombia’s bid after the president of the Colombian FA, Ramón Jesurún, and the Conmebol president, Alejandro Domínguez, complained in a letter of “erroneous and discriminatory conclusions”. The pair highlighted the conclusions in relation to security, health and medical facilities and commercial potential.
A reply from Fatma Samoura, Fifa’s secretary general, said “all steps were taken to conduct the evaluation in a highly objective manner”, that experts indicated an “elevated level of risk”, that the altitude of Bogotá was an addition health issue and that forecast ticketing revenue was “modest” compared with the 2019 tournament in France.
Colombia’s women’s football track record is poor, but there is a hope among players that it could be a catalyst for change. Last year members of the Colombia senior women’s national team spoke out about a lack of support, few camps and poor conditions, and this month a former head coach of the under-17 team reached an agreement with prosecutors after he was accused of sexual harassment. The players’ union, Acolfutpro, has been forced to provide care packages for players who have had contracts cancelled as a result of Covid-19.