Two Wollongong venues miss out on hosting 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup team

FIFA in September released a shortlist of 35 Australian grounds and/or clubs that could host a World Cup team in 2023, which included the Wollongong Wolves' home Albert Butler Park and the region's sole all-weather field, Ian McLennan Park, whose bid was put forward by Football South Coast.

That list was then trimmed to 16 on Monday afternoon, with neither Illawarra bids proving successful.

A host of cities and regional centres across Australia and New Zealand were selected, including Campbelltown, Gosford and the Central Coast.

Read more: Stingrays secure Guest Park as new training base

As part of their bid, FSC were able to secure close to $500,000 in funding in September for upgrades at Ian McLennan. After that positive announcement, FSC chief executive Ann-Marie Balliana said it was unfortunate to miss out on the bid.

"It would be nice to have a team based here. However, we've still put our hat in the ring to be a preparation site for teams that might be coming over early, so there's still an opportunity there," Balliana said.

"It was a really difficult [bid] process and we were just really happy that we had two facilities in the Illawarra that were short listed. Longer term, I think it's all about the legacy as well, through the infrastructure upgrades, so we've got to look to the positives in that, which will really be felt by the region for many years to come.

"Wollongong is a beautiful area and not too far away from Sydney, so it would have been an ideal place for a team to be based. But it is what it is, and we'll just look to the positives. I think it's just going to be exciting off the back of what we're seeing with the Men's World Cup, and then having the women's tournament right around the corner.

"I'm sure that people in the region will embrace it, regardless of whether we had a team or not."

Read more: Olympic strengthens Premier League stocks for next year

Meanwhile, Wollongong Wolves Wolves chief executive Strebre Delovski said his NSW NPL club was also disappointed to miss out.

"We had some powerhouses that came to inspect Albert Butler Memorial Park, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful," Delovski said.

"We put in an application to potentially host some powerhouses of women's football and unfortunately they went with another option."

Earlier in the day, Football Australia revealed that Brisbane would officially host the Matildas during the group stage of the Cup.

It will mark the first time that the team base camp concept has been introduced for women's football's biggest tournament.

"Queensland has a strong history and connection with women's football, so it is fitting that the Matildas team base camp will be situated in Brisbane," Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said.

"Over the past 12 months, the Queensland public has demonstrated its support for the Matildas with strong crowds for our matches in both Townsville and Brisbane, and we are excited to witness that support reach new heights at the FIFA Women's World Cup."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say.

Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Illawarra Mercury website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.

To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.