Colombia risks its candidacy for Women’s World Cup in 2023

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The recent denunciations against members of the Colombian Football Federation (FCF), among other things, risk the candidacy for the 2023 World Cup

From next June 7, the world will see the start of one of the most important football championships: the FIFA Women's World Cup. For no one is a secret that women's football still shows some inequality in relation to men, but year after year this discipline of international football is gaining more and more fame, either by the sports organizations that support it or the stars that every time show more talent. In fact, according to FIFA, for the 2015 World Cup, in Canada, more than 750 million people followed the games of the tournament on television, in the world.

Leer en español: Colombia arriesga su candidatura para Mundial de fútbol femenino del 2023

For this occasion, the World Cup (the eighth to be played since the People's Republic of China organized it for the first time in 1991), will be held in France, with 24 national teams, including the defending champion, United States, according to Goal. com. The most important event in women's football will see its final on July 7, when the two best teams face each other in the Olympic Park of Lyon.

Colombia 2023?

After this, the women must wait another four years to be able to play again this tournament, which could take place in Latin American territory. In fact, on August 23, 2016, the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) showed its first wishes for Colombia to host the 2023 World Cup. "The Executive Committee of the Colombian Football Federation, headed by its president, Ramón Jesurum Franco, presented on Tuesday, August 23 before the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, his interest to formalize the candidacy of Colombia as host country of the FIFA Women's World Cup of 2023," says a press release sent by the sporting entity.

However, this candidacy became more than formal with the intervention of President Iván Duque, who, on January 26, made public the interests of the country 'coffee' for being the host of this female competition.

The newspaper Marca reported that the news was given by the president in the middle of the workshop 'Building a country' that was held on the island of San Andrés. "We want our country to take that step, not only to recognize the importance of sport, but also the importance of the leadership of women in the sports development of our country," said the president, assuring that FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, I was already aware of this request, as it was presented during the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), in this 2019.

Also, as El Tiempo reported, in 2016, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) showed its total support for the candidacy of Colombia, for which regional support is also present.

It may interest you: Women's World Cup: the most important sporting event of 2019

Against the tide

However, the World Cup dream of Colombia in 2023 could disappear, due to the recent complaints made by several players of the women's national team, among which there are cases of sexual abuse in the U17 category.

"Two members of the Colombia sub 17 national teams, one of them a minor, lodged complaints with the National Prosecutor's Office for sexual and labor harassment during the pre-World Cup meetings in Uruguay, held in November 2018," the report said Liga Contra el Silencio, an alliance of journalists and media that fights censorship in Colombia.

In addition to this, in the awnings of the FCF could also have been cases of inequality in front of women, such as low wages, absence of international flights, "old and used uniforms" and threats, as stated by Isabella Echeverri and Melissa Ortíz, soccer players of the Colombian women's national team. Of course, this can result in a setback against the federation's goals to reach the Women's World 2023.

Other candidates

With all this, for Colombia, the only problem is not internal conflicts within its sports organization, but also the difficult competition it has against Australia and Japan, countries that already showed their intentions to stay with the World Cup. According to the website Pulzo, the oceanic made it official since October 2018, while the Japanese have only shown signs since they put the issue under discussion in December. It should be remembered that March 15 will be the deadline to send the completed declaration of interest to FIFA, and it will only be until March 2020 when the "host or hosts" of the Women's World Cup 2023 is chosen.

LatinAmerican Post | Christopher Ramírez Hernández

Translated from "Colombia arriesga su candidatura para Mundial de fútbol femenino del 2023"