2023 Women's World Cup a major coup for W-League says Ellie Brush

Brush was among those celebrating in the early hours of Friday morning after Australia and New Zealand won the rights to host the 2023 tournament.

The vote in favour of the historic joint-bid has given the W-League the boost it needed following mass exodus of Matildas players to Europe.

The 2023 bid team has vowed to expand W-League and increase the length of its season, as well as fund youth academies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Clubs have been calling for a full home-and-away campaign for several years, and player earnings vary widly across the competition.

The W-League will only improve with the investment that comes from Australia hosting a World Cup, an opportunity Brush says can bring the best players back on homesoil.

"It's a really huge coup for the W-League which was starting to seem like it was on a bit of a plateau with a lot of the Matildas last year announcing they're going to play in other competitions around the world," Brush said.

"This will bring back growth to the league and see it attract talent from all over the world, keeping the best players in Australia."

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As the Matildas build towards a home World Cup, Brush says there's a need for the domestic league to become professional and create a competitive environment for national team players.

Football Federation Australia are locked in a broadcast deal for the A-League and W-League for at least the next year, but the home World Cup is expected to boost their bargaining power for 2021 and beyond.

Increased investment in the W-League will not only increase the competition's quality but also develop depth and nurture young talent, who could be prospects for the 2023 Matildas squad.

"I think it's huge for the W-League. Of course if Australia does well, they'll want to look back on what's caused the team to have success and that's a professional domestic competition," Brush said.

"They can commit to long term, ambitious thinking and attract world class talent. The season can possibly be extended and teams added.

"Hopefully leading up to the World Cup, it can become a fully professional league."

Matildas great and former Canberra United coach Heather Garriock is part of the FFA's "Starting XI" panel and says the W-League is under review.

Garriock, who played 130 games for Australia and almost 20 years in leagues around the world, is helping shape the W-League's future and hopes to increase its length to a full home-and-away season.

"Football Federation Australia are looking at a more football-centric model, everything that's decided upon and going to be done in the future is going to be done via data. We need to do things correctly," Garriock said.

"My focus is going to be on the W-League. It can't just be a 12 game season, we need to get these players out of their comfort zone and playing competitive games week-in, week-out for a longer season."

The 2020-21 W-League season will likely start in December, in line with the A-Leagues' season switch.