New Zealand's second-largest city has missed out on hosting games for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Five Australian and four New Zealand cities will host a total of 64 games, played by 32 nations, set to be viewed by billions.
The successful New Zealand builds come from Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin - a no-surprise kick in the shins for Christchurch.
"It felt like someone had taken all my toys away. You know it was a lot of work that has gone in from a lot of people," says Mainland Football CEO, Julian Bowden.
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell says while the decision to exclude Christchurch was difficult, it came down to showcasing the best-prepared grounds in the country.
"One issue fundamentally and that's the fact that there's a temporary stadium and this is one of the biggest sporting events in the world with a global broadcast audience of billions, so that's the determining factor," Pragnell says.
The home of the Crusaders, Orangetheory Stadium is not suitable to host such a pinnacle sporting event.
"We miss out on a great event that people can get behind and the obvious flow-on effects of the economic stimulus that it would provide," says Christchurch City Council's James Gough.
"In saying that, I think the message would be as soon as we can get on to building this closed roof multi-use arena, the better and then we'll be in the running for things like this," says
