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The World football governing FIFA and Football Australia have denied a report that the 2023 Women’s World Cup could be delayed by months.
L’Équipe reported that there had been informal talks between FIFA and leading figures in European football about the possibility of delaying the tournament by several months.
The report suggested this was being considered because of the more favourable climate and longer days during summertime in Australia and New Zealand. There was also a suggested link to difficulties being experienced by FIFA in selling media rights for the tournament.
However, a FIFA spokesperson and Football Australia both told the Sydney Morning Herald that there are no current plans to implement the change.
“After a successful ‘One Year to Go’ event, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is scheduled to kick off on 20 July 2023. No changes to the dates of the competition are foreseen,” said the FIFA spokesperson, alluding to recent events in Australia and New Zealand celebrating the tournament being a year away.
There have been no other indicators of a push to move the tournament, and doing so at this stage would cause quite a bit of turmoil in the global soccer calendar.
A date change could help motivate broadcasters. Per L’Equpe, bids submitted to FIFA for the upcoming tournament in Australia and New Zealand were well below the €20 million collected for the 2019 tournament in France.