Liverpool Submits Netball World Cup Bid
England has submitted a bid to host the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, which would include staging the games at the city’s Echo Arena.
The bid has been launched in partnership with Liverpool City Council and UK Sport as part of its Gold Event Series.
The ACC Liverpool complex, located on the former Kings Dock in Liverpool, contains three separate venues that will be used for the event, with the 8,300-seater Echo Arena to stage all the matches of the tournament, while the Exhibition Centre will be the proposed athlete training venue.
In addition, the BT Convention Centre would host the International Netball Federation Congress that runs alongside the World Cup and the new four-star Pullman hotel, also located on the ACC Liverpool site, would be the official INF event hotel.
England Netball chairman, Cheryl Danson, said of the bid: ‘Liverpool is an iconic city immersed in sport and, with its global reputation and warm welcome, would be the perfect host to showcase the Netball World Cup 2019 to the world.’
‘Through ACC Liverpool we are able to offer the INF a wonderful single site venue that includes the competition arena, training venue, INF Congress venue and event hotel.’
‘All these facilities are interlinked and situated on a World Heritage waterfront site, perfectly located to deliver the most seamless and athlete centred Netball World Cup ever.’
The Gold Event Series aims to invest more than £40 million of National Lottery funding to bring up to 100 of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK by 2023.
England already has hosting duties for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, but plans to stage the Women’s World Cup in the same year have been ruled out by the Football Association.
The sport has continued to grow in the country and England Netball was recognised at the BT Sport Industry Awards in May, claiming the prestigious Governing Body of the Year Award, sponsored by The Daily Telegraph.
The Netball World Cup was launched in 2013 after the INF rebranded the Netball World Championships, with the first edition set to take place in Sydney in August next year.
The competition will see the world’s top 16 teams taking part, with hosts and defending champions Australia looking for an 11th world title after their win at the previous World Championships in Singapore in 2011.
England has hosted the Championships twice before, including the inaugural event in Eastbourne in 1963 and Birmingham in 1995.
The INF will announce the host city early next year.
