Women's World Cup 2023: Japan withdraws bid, Colombia and Australia/New Zealand the only candidates

The Japanese Football Association has announced that it is withdrawing its bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup, according to the body on 22/06/2020, three days ahead of the decision to be taken by the FIFA Council regarding the awarding of the first Women's World Cup with 32 teams (instead of 24) on Thursday 25/06/2020.

"The decision to withdraw from the bid was taken after careful and thorough consideration in the Japan Bid Committee as well as the JFA executive committee," said Kohzo Tashima, president of the Japanese Football Association and chairman of Japan bid committee.

FIFA had previously announced on 10/06/2020 that three bids (Japan, Colombia and the combined Australia-New Zealand duo) would be submitted to the FIFA Council, who will meet by videoconference to decide on the host country for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 on 25/06/2020, and added that "the Brazilian Football Association informed FIFA on Monday, 08/06/2020, of its decision to withdraw its bid."

Consequently, only Colombia and the Australia-New Zealand duo remain in the running. Following the technical…