May 21 – Australian FA (FFA) boss David Gallop has said it will take “many millions of dollars” of government funding to win the hosting rights for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, at the official launch of Australia’s bid for the tournament.

The previous Australian government donated $5 million to the bid, but Gallop has said it will take much more to win the 2023 women’s showpiece event and that the FFA will engage in meetings with prime minister Scott Morrison and other senior ministers to secure more financial backing.

“It will take a substantial investment, we saw that with the (winning 2015) Asian Cup (bid), we need federal and state governments to get on board,” said Gallop. “But it will deliver close to $500 million in economic benefit for the country, so there’s a lot of value in this proposition.

“We’re talking about many millions of dollars (government support) but we’re talking about a worthwhile investment.”

The Australians face opposition from eight other bidders – South Korea, Japan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa and New Zealand.

The FFA chief didn’t rule out that Australia might consider a co-hosting format with New Zealand at some stage. “We can certainly stay open-minded to that,” said Gallop. “But at this stage we are going to concentrate on Australia and on talking to the federal and state governments about getting behind it.”

On March 18 FIFA sent bid registration documents to interested associations, outlining what will be required from bidders to organise the competition. Bid books must be submitted by October. The FIFA Council will vote to award the hosting rights in March 2020, a choice FIFA has faced criticism for as the men’s World Cup is no longer decided by secret ballot.

This summer Australia will play Brazil, Italy and Jamaica in the group stages of the Women’s World Cup in France. Gallop was confident that the sixth-ranked Matildas will impress at the tournament. In 2015 the Australians eliminated Brazil in the second round before succumbing to Japan 1-0 in the quarter-finals.

“We’ve made quarter finals before and we certainly want to get to that point and we want to move beyond that and we know we’ve got a special crop of players from the world class players like Sam Kerr through to the new breed of players like Mary Fowler,” said Gallop. “It’s a great combination.”

Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1600990090labto1600990090ofdlr1600990090owedi1600990090sni@o1600990090fni1600990090