SA Withdraws FIFA 2023 Women World Cup Host Bid

The South African Football Association (SAFA) has withdrawn its bid for the rights to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with several factors mitigating against hosting the tournament in the country.

South Africa is suffering an economic crisis while several of its parastatals with critical services such as electricity, railways and the national airline are battling for survival and it would be ill-advised and myopic to spend money from state coffers on a costly sports tournament.

It is also understood that South Africa would not have met the technical requirements given the state of the women’s game in the country, particularly the lack of a fully professional club structure.

SAFA is also at loggerheads with the Sports Minister Nathi Mthetwa who had to suffer the embarassment of postponing a football indaba after failing to get support from the football motherbody hence the bid was also lacking government support which is very critical for a bid of this nature. 

The deadline for submissions of bids was Friday (December 13) and world governing body FIFA confirmed on its official website that only four bids were received.

Two South American nations in Brazil and Colombia have entered bids alongside those of Japan and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand. 

Australia and New Zealand’s bid is considered an early frontrunner with both countries federations enjoying full government support for their bid.

“We resolved that as an association we should not proceed with the bid,” SAFA’s acting CEO Gay Mokoena said.

“We want to strengthen our women’s national league first before we invite the world to come and play. Definitely, we will consider doing 2027 and we think by that time, we will have a stronger women’s league and a much stronger women’s national team.” added Mokoena.

The host of the next tournament which will be decided by the 37 board members of the Fifa will be announced in May 2020. 

FIFA Women’s World Cup Facts

The Fifa Women’s World Cup was first held in 1991 and has been staged every four years since the inaugural tournament.

Six countries have hosted the Women’s World Cup. China and the United States have each hosted the tournament twice, while Canada, France, Germany, and Sweden have each hosted it once.

The tournament has never been staged in Africa or South America. 

By Gerald Dandah