FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup: South Africa withdraws bid as Australia and New Zealand join forces

South Africa has pulled out of the running to stage the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, less than a day before the deadline for submitting bid books.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) claimed it wants to focus on improving the women’s game, particularly the fledgling national league before bidding for another international tournament.

But SAFA has been in dispute recently with South Africa’s Sports Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, whose support they would need to secure government guarantees.

South Africa, as a country, is also facing economic problems.

“We resolved that as an association, we should not proceed with the bid,” SAFA acting chief executive, Hay Mokoena, told Reuters.

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“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.”

 Meanwhile,  Australia and New Zealand have decided to join forces in their bid to host the 2023 women’s tournament after reaching an 11th-hour agreement before tomorrow’s deadline.

The joint bid is proposing to host the final of the quadrennial international women’s tournament in Sydney, at the newly renovated 75,000 capacity ANZ Stadium in the Olympic Park.

The Football Federation Association had recently abandoned plans to submit a standalone bid for the competition as it believes, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, that the best chance to beat the bids from Japan and Colombia was to join forces with its neighbour New Zealand.