Geneva, March 20 (IANS): The Federation International of Football Association (FIFA) on Thursday announced that France has been awarded the hosting rights for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 ahead of South Korea.

The announcement, delivered by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, came after a unanimous decision taken by the FIFA Executive Committee, Xinhua reported.

France also won the hosting right of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2018.

Initially, five countries and regions declared their interest in hosting the events, namely England, France, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa, before the field narrowed down to two by October 2014, when France and South Korea submitted their official bid documents to FIFA.

According to FIFA, the criteria for Women's World Cup bids covered a range of areas including cost efficiency, promotion, the potential for creating an innovative and meaningful national football legacy programme, the support and involvement of the football community, the existing infrastructure and viability of projects to improve it, as well as private and public support.

The FIFA Women's World Cup has been held every four years since 1991, with the seventh edition due to be played in Canada from June 6 to July 5, 2015.