The city has joined the Australia-New Zealand bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Dunedin City Council has announced.
The bid arrives at FIFA headquarters in Zurich today.
If successful the city is expected to host several games, which will be shared around other cities in Australasia — including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
The 2019 Women's World Cup, in France, had a total attendance of 1.13 million fans and was watched by 1.12 billion viewers around the world.
It would follow several other world sporting events the city has hosted in recent years.
Those have included the Rugby World Cup in 2011, as well as both the Cricket World Cup and FIFA under-20 World Cup in 2015.
Forsyth Barr Stadium had been keen in attracting such high calibre events and Dunedin Venues CEO Terry Davies said it would be great to host the event
‘‘It would be terrific to be part of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 under the roof and a fantastic opportunity for southern fans to witness quality international football.’’
Meanwhile Dunedin City Council Enterprise Dunedin Director John Christie said the benefits would flow on beyond sport.
‘‘Hosting such an event will have significant benefits for Dunedin; with the economic impact expected to be more than $10m.
‘‘Just as important is the opportunity to showcase women’s international sports, which has been growing rapidly in the last decade.’’
