Earlier this week, Japan became the fifth candidate to step down from the battle for the women's soccer World Cup in 2023. Earlier, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and a joint application from South and North Korea were withdrawn.

Australia and New Zealand have a strong candidacy and have received the highest rating, 4.1 out of 5 possible, by the International Football Association's FIFA evaluation committee.

Japan received a 3.9 rating, but on Monday chose to drop off when it was considered to have lost key votes.

There were two other explanations as well, according to Japanese Football Association chairman Kozo Tajima.

Next year's Tokyo Olympics and the corona virus.

"I felt that there was a resistance to organizing two top championships in the same country within a shorter period of time, especially after the effects of the corona pandemic," Tajima said.

The Women's Soccer World Cup 2023 will be played for the first time with 32 teams. In the last World Cup in France last year, where the US took gold and Sweden bronze, 24 teams participated.

Australia / New Zealand's application contains twelve different venues, seven in Australia and five in New Zealand. The opening match will be played in Auckland and the final in Sydney.

Colombia's plans include ten different arenas where the opening match and the final will be played in Bogota. But Colombia's application, which has only been rated 2.8, contains question marks according to the evaluation committee. The renovation needs of the stadium in Cucuta in northern Colombia are great, but above all safety concerns are also raised.

"Although there has been a dramatic reduction in domestic terrorism, there is still some concern about the crime from the stakeholders of the championship," read the Fifa report.

The World Cup organizer is appointed during a video conference by Fifa's deciding council on Thursday night, which includes 37 people.

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