The 2015 tournament will mark the third time the Women's World Cup will be decided in North America.

The tournament was in the United States in 1999 and 2003.

The US team won in 1999 but Germany won in 2003.

Germany also won the 2007 tournament and is the host for the 2011 Women's World Cup this summer.

Canadian cities Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Moncton, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver are all bidding to host matches but none will be staged in Toronto because they are staging the Pan-American Games that summer.

"The World Cup will happen about three weeks to a month before the Pan-Am Games and there were some in Toronto that really wanted to focus their attention on the Pan-Ams as opposed to getting wrapped up in both events," said Gary Lunn, Canada's Sports Minister.

Hamilton, which will serve as a football venue during the Pan-Am Games, also declined to get involved with the World Cup.

But the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) are still optimistic that the World Cup will be a success to rival last year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"We will have games played in six different provinces from coast to coast and I would like to think our corporate partners believe in the entire country versus pieces of the country," said Peter Montopoli, the general secretary of the CSA.

"The one thing we wanted to do was coast to coast.

"It will be the first time in our country that we've ever held an event at the same time, that everybody across the country can touch and feel."

The tournament will start in June 2015, running into July although the dates are not set yet.

"The biggest thing, and we saw this at the Olympics in Vancouver, is the nation-building potential," Montopoli said.

"These kinds of events really have the potential to lift everyone in the country. We believe we can do that in 2015."

FIFA, the world soccer federation, also announced that Canada will be the site for the women's under-20 World Cup in 2014 while Uzbekistan was awarded the women's under-20 World Cup in 2012 and Costa Rica will host the women's under-17 World Cup in 2017.

Also awarded were the men's under-20 World Cup in 2013 to Turkey and New Zealand in 2015; and the men's under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 and Chile in 2015.


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