England among five countries to declare interest in hosting 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

By Nick Butler

England, France, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa are the five countries to have expressed an interest in hosting the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019, it has been announced today.

The Women's World Cup, first held in China in 1991, is billed as the second biggest FIFA event following the male version and will be held in Canada next year after last taking place in Germany in 2011, when Japan beat the United States in the final.

The bids from South Africa, France and South Korea had already been publicly expressed, while the ones from New Zealand and England were not widely known until today.

Following a failed attempt to win the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the English bid is particularly interesting and, if successful, would follow in the footsteps of many other major sporting events planned in the country, including the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

Signed bidding documents will need to be handed to FIFA by October 31, with a decision made at the first Executive Committee meeting in early 2015.

Four of the five contenders have also bid for the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup 2018, with South Africa the only exception due to the fact they are hosting the event in 2016.

Under FIFA guidelines, the governing body prefer that the two events are held in the same country, although they do "reserve the right to award the hosting of the events separately".

South Africa, hosts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, are attempting to bring the female version to Africa for the first time ©Getty Images

FIFA has seen a combined total of 31 declarations of interest for the eight competitions it has distributed information about today.

Five candidates have emerged for the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup 2018, consisting of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Finland, Northern Ireland and Sweden, where the same bid timeline exists as for the other two female competitions.

India and Japan expressed a wish to host the 2015 and 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, while Brazil, Japan and United Arab Emirates are considering bids for the 2017 and 2018 editions.

The complete set of bidding documents for these events must be provided by August 25, 2014, before a final decision is made in September.

Finally, an impressive total of 12 countries have confirmed interest for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, consisting of Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Germany, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and the US.

This will follow a 2015 version in Portugal, while the last event took place in French Polynesia in September 2013.

Bids must be confirmed by October 1, before a winner is appointed in December 2014.