MELBOURNE • Australia and New Zealand yesterday hailed their victory in a ground-breaking bid for the 2023 Women's World Cup, promising to turn the "treasure" of the tournament into a spur for gender equity and fairness.

The trans-Tasman neighbours will unite for the first such tournament to be hosted by more than one country, after Fifa council members voted 22-13 in favour of their bid over Colombia. It will also be the first in the southern hemisphere and the first with 32 teams.

"We have been given a treasure," New Zealand Football (NZF) Federation president Johanna Wood said. "We will look after the treasure and make women's football even more front and centre and we will do that as a team."

Players on the national women's teams celebrated wildly in the early hours of yesterday after nervously watching streams of the vote.

"WE DID IT. WE FREAKING DID IT," Australia striker Sam Kerr tweeted.

New Zealand striker Hannah Wilkinson told TVNZ that it was just "total joy" for her. She added: "This is going to be absolutely amazing and I'm a bit speechless."

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern promised the "largest... and the best Women's World Cup" ever staged.

"For the first time in history, Australians and New Zealanders will be able to experience a tier one football tournament on home soil," they said in a joint statement.

They added that it would help drive Australia's goal of achieving an equal split of male and female participation in the game by 2027, and that it recognised NZF's focus on pay equity and equal treatment for female players.

In their bid, both football federations had emphasised how hosting the tournament would boost the sport in two broad regions. It went on to score far higher in the Fifa evaluation report than its South American rival's.

Australia is a member of the Asian Football Confederation, while New Zealand dominates the Pacific region of Oceania.

"There hasn't been a Women's World Cup in this region or in the southern hemisphere so there's new ground to be developed here," Ros Moriarty, the chair of Football Federation Australia's women's football council told Reuters.

"The cross-confederation aspect is a big plus. It allows us to reach out to friends in Asia and as well as in Oceania."

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE