Football Ferns captain Ali Riley delivers her team talk prior to New Zealand's World Cup clash with Cameroon earlier this year.

Football Federation Australia chairman Chris Nikou has given the strongest indication yet that Australia and New Zealand will submit a joint bid for the 2023 Women's World Cup.

Both countries had been preparing individual bids for the tournament, but with Fifa announcing in August that the 2023 Women's World Cup would expand from 24 to 34 teams, speculation of a joint bid has increased.

"We're in dialogue with New Zealand and a decision will be made shortly as the bid book is due on December 13," Nikou said on Tuesday, as the Victorian government announced its support for the bid.

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"We've had really constructive dialogue with Football New Zealand and we have a great relationship.

"A dual bid makes sense – the competition going from 24 countries to 32 means we need to go effectively from six to eight venues to eight to 10 ... [a joint bid is] certainly a possibility."

Other bidders include Japan, South Korea, North Korea, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

New Zealand Football declined to comment when approached by Stuff on Tuesday. However, in March NZF chief executive Andrew Pragnell said the "door is always open" regarding a joint bid with Australia.

"We are in a good place with Football Federation Australia and could have those conversations but at this stage we are going alone. The door is always open but at this stage our intent is to put in a single country bid," he said.