Bern ¨C FIFA is standing by its technical evaluation of Colombia¡¯s bid to host the 2023 women¡¯s World Cup, telling the country¡¯s unhappy soccer chief that the assessment was conducted in a ¡°highly objective¡± manner.

Colombian Football Federation president Ramon Jesurun wrote to FIFA last week, along with South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) president Alejandro Dominguez, to complain of ¡°erroneous and discriminatory conclusions¡± in its report on the bid.

The Colombian proposal to bring the tournament to South America for the first time received the lowest score among FIFA¡¯s evaluation of the three bids to host the tournament.

The joint bid from Australia and New Zealand was rated 4.1 out of a maximum of five in the report. Japan was awarded 3.9 but Colombia scored only 2.8 ahead of next Thursday¡¯s vote.

In a four-page letter seen by Reuters, FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura replied that ¡°all steps were taken to conduct the evaluation in a highly objective manner.¡±

¡°I am confident that the evaluation process that FIFA has conducted has adhered to the key principles of objectivity, vision, transparency, commitment to human rights and sustainability,¡± said the letter which was copied to members of the FIFA Council.

In response to a claim that FIFA¡¯s evaluation had cast doubt over the security situation in Colombia, Samoura recognised that there had been improvements but said that ¡°all sources reviewed by experts indicated an elevated level of risk¡± compared to other bids.

In terms of health and medical facilities, she said that ¡°a medium level of risk was deemed appropriate¡± and that serious conditions may require international evacuation. She said the altitude of Bogota ¡ª 2,644 meters ¡ª was among the factors taken into account

From a commercial point of view, Samoura said the forecast revenues from a tournament in Colombia were ¡°modest¡± and the projected ticketing revenue of $22.4 million was significantly lower than the previous tournament in France in 2019.