International Football
FIFA COUNCIL TO SELECT HOST OF 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
BY LIAM MORGAN
Members of the FIFA Council will select the host country for the 2023 Women’s World Cup rather than the full Congress, world football’s governing body has confirmed.
FIFA said in a statement that the 37-strong ruling body will decide the location of the 2023 tournament at a meeting in March of next year.
The confirmation means the vote will be held in secret, which is in stark contrast to how the 2026 men’s World Cup host was chosen.
FIFA handed the responsibility to the Congress, instead of what was then called the FIFA Executive Committee, following corruption investigations into the 2018 and 2022 bid process, controversially won by Russia and Qatar respectively.
The organisation also made all of the votes public after the FIFA Congress chose the joint bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico in an attempted show of transparency.
That will not be the case when the Council comes to decide where the 2023 Women’s World Cup will be held.
FIFA said yesterday that the bidding process was officially open and gave interested countries until March 15 to submit an expression of interest.
Australia and Japan have already publicly announced their intention to bid, with South Africa and Colombia among other potential candidates.
FIFA has set a deadline of April 16 for the submission of the completed bidding registration and has asked contenders to send the bid book, the signed hosting agreement and all other related documents by October 4.
It then expects the host of the 2023 Women’s World Cup to be appointed in March 2020.
“Australia is strongly aligned to FIFA’s global vision for women’s football, and committed to growing the game across Asia-Pacific region,” said Football Federation Australia chairman Chris Nikou.
“With our strong record of successfully hosting major events including the AFC Asian Cup 2015, we are confident of submitting a compelling bid for Australia to host FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
Japan Football Association President Kohzo Tashima said it was the organisation’s “utmost wish to work together with the related Ministries and organisations and win this bid”.
“By hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, we believe we can enhance from Japan the attractiveness and the value of women’s football to the world,” Tashima added.
This year’s Women’s World Cup in France begins on June 7 and concludes on July 7.
– INSIDE THE GAME
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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