A new hope? FIFA 2.0, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, and event bidding for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup^TM

ABSTRACT

The FIFA Women’s World CupTM 2023 (FWWC23) bidding process was the first major women’s football tournament awarded following FIFA’s landmark reform package known as FIFA 2.0: The Vision for the Future. This paper interrogates the conjunctural politics of the FWWC23 competitive bid process, exploring the unique ways in which FIFA shapes, influences, and controls event bidding for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Based on an analysis of official documents, bid books, and news media coverage connected to the FWWC23 bid process, this paper presents how varying FIFA-based narratives and tactics shaped the winning Australia and New Zealand bid. Based on our analysis, four key points of discussion emerged in relation to the ways in which FIFA 2.0 shaped, and was shaped by, FWWC23 event bidding: the formation of bid “products”; the governance of the bid “process”; the politics of bid “positioning”; and the advancement of FIFA “priorities”.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. FIFA, “FIFA President Infantino Unveils”.

2. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 7.

3. FIFA, “FIFA Launches First-Ever”.

4. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 4.

5. FIFA, The Vision 2020–2023.

6. Ibid.

7. Aotearoa is the Indigenous Māori name for New Zealand. Aotearoa New Zealand is often used in combination to signify the country’s official commitment to biculturalism and the bicultural nature of the country’s identity. We have chosen to use simply “New Zealand” throughout for the purposes of clarity; however, we recognize the cultural politics of using or not using Te Reo Māori (the Māori language) and suggest this itself is worthy of exploring in future analyses of FWWC23.

8. FIFA, “New Zealand Aim to Supercharge”.

9. Sport New Zealand, Women and Girls in Sport..

10. Desjardins, “Mobilising Gender Equality”; Beissel et al., “Winning the Women’s World Cup”; Haldane, “FIFA’s Feminist Foot Soldiers”.

11. IOC, IOC Olympic Agenda 2020.

12. MacAloon, “Agenda 2020 and the Olympic Movement”.

13. For example, see Desjardins, “Mobilising Gender Equality”.

14. Krech, “Towards Equal Rights”.

15. Ahn and Cunningham, “Standing on a Glass Cliff”; Dodd and Ordway, “FIFA Governance Reform”; Duval, “Taking Feminism Beyond the State”; Heerdt and Bernaz, “Elements for FIFA’s”; Krech, “Towards Equal Rights”; Poppelwell-Scevak, “The Gender Pay Gap”.

16. Duval, “Taking Feminism Beyond the State”.

17. Ibid, 12.

18. Ibid, 15.

19. Heerdt and Bernaz, “Elements for FIFA’s”, 2.

20. Poppelwell-scevak, “The Gender Pay Gap”.

21. Ibid, 23.

22. Mangan, “Managing Monsters”; Pfister, “On Women And Football”; Valenti, Scelles, and Morrow, “Women’s Football Studies”.

23. Bell and Coche, “High Power Kick”; Black and Fielding-Lloyd, “Re-establishing the ‘Outsiders’”; Burch, Billings, and Zimmerman, “Comparing American Soccer Dialogues”; Christopherson, Janning, and Diaz McConnell, “Two Kicks Forward”; Coche, “A New Era”; Coche, “Promoting Women’s Soccer”, Hallman, “Women’s 2011 Football World Cup”; Petty and Pope, “A New Age for Media Coverage”.

24. Petty and Pope, “A New Age for Media Coverage”; Black and Fielding-Lloyd, “Re-establishing the ‘Outsiders’”.

25. Coates, “The Economic Impact of the Women’s World Cup”.

26. Desjardins, “Mobilising Gender Equality”; Beissel et al, “Winning the World Cup”.

27. Black, “The Symbolic Politics of Sport Mega-Events”.

28. McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding.

29. McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding.

30. Ibid, 1.

31. Ibid, 55.

32. Ibid, 63.

33. Ibid, 54.

34. Brannagan and Reiche, Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup; Human Rights Watch, “Qatar Events of 2021”; Panja, “As World Cup Nears”.

35. Bell and Coche, “High Power Kick”; Black and Fielding-Lloyd, “Re-establishing the ‘Outsiders’”; Burch, Billings, and Zimmerman, “Comparing American Soccer Dialogues”; Christopherson, Janning, and Diaz McConnell, “Two Kicks Forward”; Coche, “A New Era”; Coche, “Promoting Women’s Soccer”, Hallman, “Women’s 2011 Football World Cup”; Petty and Pope, “A New Age for Media Coverage”.

36. Allison and Tomlinson, Understanding International Sport Organisations.

37. Ibid, 107.

38. Ibid, 2.

39. Ibid, 3.

40. Ibid, 107.

41. Ibid, 47.

42. Ibid, 109.

43. Pielke, “An Evaluation Of The FIFA Governance”; Pielke, “Obstacles to Accountability”.

44. Prior, “Repositioning Documents in Social Research”.

45. Macdonald, “Using Documents”.

46. Bowen, “Document Analysis”; Bryman, Social Research Methods; O’Leary, The Essential Guide to Doing Research.

47. Ibid.

48. Allison and Tomlinson, Understanding international sport organizations, McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding.

49. Patton, Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods, 553.

50. FIFA, “FIFA President Infantino Unveils”.

51. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 42.

52. Sugden and Tomlinson, Football, Corruption and Lies.

53. Palmer, “Infantino Promises Transparent Bidding”.

54. FIFA, Overview the Bidding Process, 3.

55. FIFA, “Bidding Process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup”; for a critical analysis of the FMWC26 bidding process, see Beissel and Kohe, “United as One”.

56. FIFA, Guide to the Bidding Process.

57. Ibid.

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid.

60. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 2.

61. FIFA, Guide to the Bidding Process.

62. Ibid.

63. FIFA, Overview of the Scoring System, 3.

64. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 7.

65. FIFA, Guide to the Bidding Process.

66. Harris, “Unlike Men’s World Cup”.

67. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 39.

68. Orr et al., “Environment and Sustainability”.

69. Ibid.

70. Das, “FIFA Announces Bidding Process”; Gardner, “FIFA President Gianni Infantino Backs”.

71. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 34.

72. Sugden and Tomlinson, Football, Corruption and Lies.

73. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 42.

74. Ibid, 36.

75. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 2.

76. Byun, Leopkey, and Ellis, “Understanding Joint Bids”.

77. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 8.

78. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 7.

79. Ibid, 8.

80. Ibid, 3.

81. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy.

82. Ibid, 12.

83. Ibid, 15.

84. FIFA, Guide to Bidding Process; FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process; FIFA, Overview of the Scoring System.

85. FIFA, Overview of the Scoring System, 24.

86. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 3.

87. Ibid, 8.

88. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 7.

89. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 20.

90. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 7.

91. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 36.

92. Ibid, 37.

93. Duval, “Taking Feminism Beyond the State”.

94. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 2.

95. FIFA, “Bidding Process Continues with Record Ten Interested”.

96. FIFA, “FIFA Council Unanimously Approves”.

97. Now known as Football Australia (FA).

98. FIFA, “Four Bids Submitted”.

99. “Australia and New Zealand Join Forces”, The Guardian, December 13, 2019; Lewis, “Australia and NZ’s Women’s World Cup Bid”.

100. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 58.

101. Beissel and Ternes, “The Empire Strikes Back”.

102. Byun, Leopkey, and Ellis, “Understanding Joint Bids”.

103. Australia Associated Press, “Australia and New Zealand Women’s World Cup Bid Boosted”.

104. Downie, “Brazil Withdraws from Race”.

105. Quoted in Downie, “Brazil Withdraws from Race”.

106. Tarrant, “Japan Withdrawing”.

107. Dávila, Chaparro, and Sánchez, “Rights-Based Constitutionalism and Gender Justice”; Downie, “Women Footballers in Colombia Revolt”; Mathewson, “Colombian Women’s Soccer Team Accuses FCF”.

108. Tarrant, “Japan Withdrawing”.

109. Tarrant, “Japan Withdrawing”.

110. Lewis, “Women’s World Cup Bid is Australia and NZ’s to Lose”; Voerman, “Trans-Tasman 2023”.

111. FIFA, FIFA Bid Evaluation Report.

112. Ibid, 14.

113. Ibid, 82.

114. Ibid, 71.

115. Ibid, 72.

116. Ibid, 9.

117. Ibid, 14–15.

118. Ibid, 97.

119. Ibid.

120. Ibid, 23.

121. Ibid, 33.

122. Lewis, “Women’s World Cup Bid is Australia and NZ’s to Lose”.

123. McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding, 60.

124. Ibid, 52.

125. Wrack, “Colombia Bid to Host”.

126. Slater, “Europe Set to Boost Colombia’s Hopes”.

127. UEFA, “UEFA and CONMEBOL Renew Memorandum”.

128. FIFA, “Australia and New Zealand Selected as Hosts”.

129. Bossi, “FFA Chief Slams Disrespectful English”.

130. ‘FFA boss James Johnson fumes at “disrespectful” English FA for voting against Australia’s 2023 Women’s World Cup bid.

131. McCullough, Ian. “FIFA boss Gianni Infantino”.

132. Evans, “Australia and New Zealand Named Hosts”.

133. Panja, “The Power Politics of Gianni Infantino”.

134. Panja and Das, “Australia and New Zealand Will Host”.

135. Beissel and Kohe, “United as One”.

136. McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding, 8.

137. Bossi and Lynch, “”Not That Way””.

138. Burgess, “Anatomy of a World Cup Bid”.

139. Byun et al., “Understanding joint bids”.

140. McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding..

141. Beissel and Ternes, “The Empire Strikes Back”.

142. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 37.

143. FFA and NZF, “As One”, 6.

144. Ibid.

145. Desjardins, “Mobilising Gender equality”.

146. FFA and NZF, “As One”, 12.

147. Ibid.

148. Ibid, 13.

149. FFA and NZF, “As One”, 12.

150. Ibid, 13.

151. Ibid, p. 7.

152. Brice et al., “The World Cup Trilogy”; Rowe, National Sporting Organizations and Women’s Sport’.

153. FFA and NZF, “As One”, 6.

154. Ibid, 12.

155. Ibid, 16.

156. Ibid, 44.

157. Ibid, 13.

158. Ibid, 17.

159. Ibid, 12.

160. Ibid, 13.

161. New Zealand Football, “Equality for Elite Male and Female Footballers”; Football Federation Australia, “Historic CBA”.

162. Desjardins, “Mobilising Gender Equality”, 10.

163. Downie, “Women Footballers in Colombia Revolt”; Mathewson, “Colombian Women’s Soccer Team Accuses FCF”; Kassouf, “Women’s Soccer in Colombia”; Oxford and Spaaij, “Gender Relations and Sport for Development”.

164. Watson, “Superpowerful but Superinvisible?”.

165. Quoted in Burhan, “FIFA Inspectors Assess Potential Hosts”.

166. Federación Colombiana de Fútbol, 2023: Bidding Nation Colombia, 4.

167. Ibid, 5.

168. Ibid, 14.

169. Ibid, 15.

170. Ibid, 14.

171. Ibid.

172. Dávila, Chaparro, and Sánchez, “Rights-Based Constitutionalism and Gender”.

173. Federación Colombiana de Fútbol, 2023: Bidding Nation Colombia, 13.

174. Garry, “Social Media to Call For”; Downie, “Women Footballers in Colombia Revolt”; Kassouf, “Women’s Soccer in Colombia”.

175. Biram and Martinez-Mina, “Football in the Time of COVID-19”, 39.

176. Federación Colombiana de Fútbol, 2023: Bidding Nation Colombia, 39.

177. Krech and Weiler, “Football Feminism”.

178. Krech, “Towards Equal Rights”.

179. Krech, “Towards Equal Rights”, 18.

180. FIFA, FIFA Bid Evaluation Report, 9.

181. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 14.

182. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 8.

183. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 36.

184. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 4.

185. FIFA, FIFA 2.0, 38.

186. FIFA, Overview of the Scoring Process, 24.

187. FIFA, Guide to the Bidding Process.

188. Ibid, 174.

189. FFA and NZF, “As One”, 6.

190. Ibid, 7.

191. Ibid, 168.

192. Ibid.

193. Ibid, 13.

194. FIFA, Overview of the Bidding Process, 17.

195. Ibid, 14.

196. Ibid, 17.

197. FIFA, FIFA Bid Evaluation Report, 109–110.

198. Ibid, 147.

199. Ibid, 149.

200. Federación Colombiana de Fútbol, 2023: Bidding Nation Colombia..

201. FIFA, FIFA Bid Evaluation Report, 30–33.

202. Ibid, 33.

203. Ibid, 149.

204. Krech, “Towards Equal Rights”.

205. FIFA, FIFA Bid Evaluation Report, 10.

206. Ibid, 149.

207. Ibid, 123.

208. Ibid, 10.

209. FIFA, FIFA Women’s Football Strategy, 6.

210. Krech, “Towards Equal Rights”, 19.

211. FIFA, FIFA Regulations for the Selection..

212. Allison and Tomlinson, Understanding International Sport Organisations; McGillivray and Turner, Event Bidding.

213. Doctoral Prize Fellow, School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK.

214. Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Australia.

215. Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology, California State University Fullerton, USA.