It looks like a football World Cup could be coming to Australia with Monday’s news that Japan has pulled out of the bidding process.
Friday morning’s vote (AEST) is now down to the joint Australian and New Zealand bid and Colombia with the local option seemingly the favourite to win hosting rights to the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Naturally with anything FIFA related a shock decision is always on the cards so don’t go making plans to follow the Matildas around just yet, but it sure looks like it might just happen.
With that in mind, we went back through the archives to take a look at some of the past instances of Australia hosting World Cups in other sports.
1957 Rugby League World Cup
Scheduled to celebrate the 50th anniversary of rugby league, four nations took part in the second Rugby League World Cup.
Played as a round robin tournament with no finals, the Australian hosts cruised home winning all three matches by a combined score of 82-20.
Two matches, including the tournament opener were played at the Gabba with the other four at the SCG.
1968 Rugby League World Cup
11 years later the fourth edition of the RLWC returned to the southern hemisphere with Australia and New Zealand sharing the hosting duties this time around.
The group stage was split between Carlaw Park in Auckland, Lang Park in Brisbane and the SCG in Sydney
A final was added on to the tournament and delivered the surprise of the tournament with France qualifying after stunning Great Britain in the group stage.
They took on Australia two days after losing to them 37-4 in a spiteful game at Lang Park and the Australians cruised home in the rematch at the SCG, running out 20-2 winners.
1977 Rugby League World Cup
Much like the tournament nine years earlier, the 1977 RLWC was between Australia, New Zealand, France and Great Britain with the group stage matches split between the three venues from 1968 plus Addington Stadium in Christchurch.
It was a tournament once again dominated by the Australians, cruising through the group stage before Great Britain gave them a real scare in the final before going down 13-12 as John Kolc scored the winning try for Australia in the final seconds.
1987 Rugby World Cup
The “other” rugby played their first World Cup in 1987 with Australia and New Zealand sharing hosting duties for the 16 team tournament.
Unlike most of the tournaments where the hosting was shared, New Zealand hosted the final which saw them defeat France 29-9 in the final.
It was the sole Rugby World Cup New Zealand would win until they hosted the 2011 tournament, once again defeating France in the final.
1992 Cricket World Cup
This was possibly the most forgettable campaign for an Australian side hosting a World Cup.
The home side bowed out in the round-robin stage with four wins and four losses, while co-hosts New Zealand won seven of their eight matches to top the group.
New Zealand’s campaign ended in the semi-final, going down to eventual champions Pakistan.
2003 Rugby World Cup
A tournament that was originally supposed to be co-hosted between Australia and New Zealand wound up being played solely in Australia due to a dispute over ground signage.
It was almost a Cinderella run for the hosts, upsetting heavy favourites New Zealand in the semi-final before going down in extra time to England in the final.
That Wilkinson drop goals still hurts to watch…
2008 Rugby League World Cup
After an eight-year hiatus, the Rugby League World Cup was back with the tournament taking place up and down the east coast of Australia.
10 teams took part with Australia and New Zealand advancing to the final at Suncorp Stadium.
It was a night to forget for the Australians, capitulating in the worst possible way to hand the underdog Kiwi’s a shock victory.
2015 Cricket World Cup
Much like the 1992 tournament, Australia and New Zealand shared the hosting duties for the Cricket World Cup.
14 venues across the two countries were selected to host anywhere between three and five matches with the SCG, MCG and Eden Park taking on the biggest matches.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two host nations qualified for the World Cup Final, with Australia demolishing New Zealand by seven wickets.
2017 Rugby League World Cup
Eight years after their humiliating defeat at Lang Park, the Kangaroos (once again defending champions after re-claiming the title in 2013) set out for redemption in the 2017 World Cup.
New Zealand never really got going in the tournament, losing to Tonga in the group stage before being dumped by Fiji 4-2 in a quarter final.
Australia went about their business as you would expect, claiming another Rugby League World Cup defeating England 6-0 in the final.
During this tournament, the Women’s Rugby League World Cup was also held with the final being played as the first part of a double header with Australia defeating New Zealand in that final 23-16.
2020 T20 World Cups
Originally, the T20 World Cups for both men and women were set to take place in Australia this year however we’ve only seen half the cricket we were originally supposed to.
The Women’s T20 tournament took place in February and March with the Aussies claimed their fifth title in a spectacular final at a sold out MCG capped by a Katy Perry concert.
The men’s tournament was scheduled for the end of 2020 but given the current circumstances that might have to be rescheduled for another time.