The two countries beat Colombia’s bid by 22 votes to 13 at the FIFA Council meeting Thursday to officially become co-hosts of the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The tournament will be the first co-confederation-hosted FIFA World Cup, as well as the first Women’s World Cup held in the Asia-Pacific region.

Vietnamese women football team celebrate after winning gold medal at SEA Games 30 in the Philippines, December 8, 2019.

It was previously announced the 2023 World Cup would allow more teams to qualify for the group stage, expanding from 24 to 32. This means the Asia-Pacific region would be given 8.5, instead of 5, qualification spots for the tournament.

This comes as good news to the Vietnamese women’s national team currently placed sixth in Asia in the FIFA Women’s ranking behind Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and North Korea.

With Australia automatically entering the group stage, Vietnam could expect to avoid this formidable opponent in the qualification round.

"This brings greater opportunities for not only Vietnam but also other teams in Asia," said Mai Duc Chung, head coach of the Vietnamese women’s national team. "This is very good news, and we will make every effort to do our best in the coming stages."

Eight countries to directly qualify for the 2023 World Cup will be decided after the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, with the country finishing ninth to enter the play-off against a team from another region.

In the 2015 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, Vietnam lost to Thailand in the match for the fifth and final place at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.

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Source: VnExpress