There are only two projects in the running to host the next Women's Football World Cup in 2023: Colombia and the Australia - New Zealand ticket. A far cry from the nine candidatures submitted at the start for this test. Virginie Phulpin is worried about a trend that affects all competitions, even the most watched.
FIFA chooses this Thursday which country will host the women's football world cup in 2023. Initially, there were nine candidates. But there are only two left. Your fear is that no one dares to start organizing major sporting events, and that women's sport is the first to be affected.
This is the candidate crisis. For the Olympic Games, for the World Cups, it's the same song. A few years ago, the country which managed to obtain the organization of a great sporting event won the Grail. Everyone was fighting to be elected. Today, we have the impression that it becomes a punishment to be an organizing country.
However, we have good vivid memories. A year ago, the Women's Football World Cup was held in France. It was a huge success. And there were already nine candidates to organize the next one, in 2023. Yes, but over the months, there have been seven withdrawals, only Colombia and the Australian-New Zealand duo remain to decide.
The last candidate to throw in the towel was Japan three days ago. The country is already facing a postponement of its Olympic Games which the majority of the Japanese no longer want, so embark on a new adventure, very little for them.
Today, what stands out is that a sporting event costs too much, people like it as much as it happens elsewhere than at home, there are critics of the ecological footprint of these competitions, and in more now there is the threat of pandemics that can destroy everything. So who can afford to take such risks? States think twice.
My fear is that in the future only the very wealthy countries, like the Gulf countries for example, will launch out, or only the authoritarian countries, which do not care much about the opinion of the population.
And women's sport is the first hit.
He's still the first hit. There it shows with this slaughter of candidacies for the Football World Cup. When the world experiences a crisis like today, health and economic, in sport, it is first of all the women who are released. It exists in clubs, in all sports. And for applications to the World Cup.
For the men's event, even if it becomes more complicated to have potential organizers, we will get there, because it remains a safe haven. While for women's football, countries have the impression of taking an additional risk because they are not sure that success will be there. And they say it may be a lot of investment for nothing. So they disengage.
I really hope that the World Cup in France will not have been the pinnacle for women's sport before going through dark years. The candidate crisis must invite us to rethink sporting events. All. Not just women's competitions.