Football Federation Australia is confident the Sydney Football Stadium and Stadium Australia will both be ready in time for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The renovations of the two Sydney-based stadia are projected to be ready for the tournament – with the new Sydney Football Stadium intended to host the 2022 NRL Grand Final.
As part of the bid, the newly renovated Stadium Australia (ANZ Stadium) – which is projected to be ready by early 2023 –will host the final, with Mr Falvo telling FNR plans have been put in place to “rectangularise” the stadium and is confident there will be no further setbacks in the renovation of both grounds.
“The final match will be held at Stadium Australia, so there are plans afoot to rectangularise that venue and make it a superb venue to host an international event of this standing,” he said.
“The NSW government announced [John Holland] had been awarded that contract so construction of that new 40,000-45000 seat venue will commence in the next little while.
“I think it’s a good blend of stadia at different size points, boutique venues as well as major stadia that will allow us to cater for every type of match at every scale for the World Cup.
“If there’s one thing the NSW government in the last few years have been able to do is deliver venues on time, so that’s certainly something that government have given us assurances to us about.
“The timetable of construction for both venues would have them up and running by 2022, with ample time for other events to be staged and tested the stadium for readiness with plenty of time to spare before a Women’s World Cup in 2023.”
Meanwhile, the newly built Bankwest Stadium has been left out of the bid.
“[FFA] haven’t put forward Bankwest, in conjunction with the NSW government have included these two venues,” Mr Falvo said.
“One of the things we had to contemplate through this bid is the multi-sport usage of stadia in the country and the intention is Bankwest will continue to host other rectangular sports during that period.”
Australia and New Zealand submitted a joint bid for the tournament last week which, if successful, would be the first joint Women’s World Cup and the first tournament hosted across two confederations.
Japan, Brazil and Colombia are the other nations bidding for the 2023 tournament, with a decision set to be made by mid-2020.
