The WFFA opens the bidding process for the 2023 World Championship host city

The World Freestyle Football Association has announced today the opening of the bidding process for the 2023 host city of its most competitive tournament: the Freestyle Football World Championship. Over the last 12 years, this exciting and energy-packed event has travelled to fascinating countries such as Brazil, Japan, England, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Poland and the USA.

For the 2023 edition, all bidding cities will be required to follow a process that will allow the WFFA experts to evaluate their proposal, including not just the physical facilities they can offer to the participant athletes but also the values and adequacy of the candidacy.

This selection process will include four main stages, during which the candidate cities will be asked to provide key information about their proposal. The procedure will happen as follows:

1. Expression of interest: deadline April 29th, 2022
   1. Cities will be required to email partnerships@thewffa.org with an introduction to the candidate organisation and destination
   2. The WFFA will forward the candidate city a full requirements package, including the Code of Ethics of the Association to ensure the candidacy is aligned with the values of the sport
   3. Once the candidates have all details available, they will be asked to prepare a presentation to excite and cater to the needs of the sport, the event and its participants

1. Confirmation of shortlisted options: announced on May 13th, 2022
   1. The WFFA will contact the applicants individually; the best 3 candidates will be selected
   2. The WFFA Partnerships team will then set up a video call with the three selected cities to learn more about their proposal and organise a site visit

1. Site visits to all shortlisted options: happening before July 29th, 2022
   1. The WFFA Operations team will visit all shortlisted cities to understand the logistics and the logic of each option

1. Host city selected: communicated privately on August 15th, 2022
   1. The WFFA Partnerships team will notify the winning candidate privately
   2. The representatives of the winning city will be invited to the 2022 World Finals, happening on October 8th in Croatia, where the public announcement will be made

Once the process has been completed and the announcement has been made, the best male and female athletes in the sport of Freestyle Football will compete from January to July for the chance to qualify for the 2023 World Finals and be crowned the best in the world in the winning city.

Dan Wood, Head of Partnerships at the WFFA, explains: “Since its launch in 2008, the Freestyle Football World Championship has travelled to all corners of the globe and entertained hundreds of millions of fans. We want to encourage any destination worldwide to get creative and be a part of our future. The uniqueness of the venue options and the energy and support from the destination are what particularly interests and excites us.”

For more information about the activities of the WFFA, follow its official channels to get the latest updates!