South African Football Association (SAFA) President Dr Danny Jordaan is travelling to the Confederation of African Football’s headquarters (CAF) in Cairo, Egypt, to brief the continental governing body on South Africa’s intention to bid for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027.
The SAFA President will also brief CAF on plans to create a women’s professional league in South Africa and why the FIFA Women’s World Cup is crucial to the project.
“Hosting the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup will accelerate the professionalisation of women’s football in South Africa,” said Dr Jordaan.
South Africa has seen increasing interest in women’s sport and the country’s national teams are participating in various tournaments in different sporting codes this year. The eighth edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was held in South Africa from 10-26 February 2023 and the cricket tournament’s final was played in Cape Town.
On the football front, African Champions Banyana Banyana are preparing for the FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand from 20 July – 20 August 2023. Coach Desiree Ellis’ charges, who won women’s football’s biggest prize on the continent after they beat Morocco in the WAFCON final in 2022, will be appearing in the global event for the second time in a row following their debut in France in 2019. The Netball World Cup will be held in Cape Town from 28 July – 6 August 2023 at the International Convention Centre.
The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) endorsed South Africa’s Bid to host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Friday (26 May 2023) and SAFA will engage all the other regions on the continent and inform them about the country’s intention to bid for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027.
“Our bid for the FIFA Women’s World Cup received a major boost after the endorsement of COSAFA and in discussions this week, we would want to ensure that we go to all the zones on the continent, and finally endorsement for the bid by CAF,” the SAFA President said.
About 50% of the delegates at the SAFA Indaba and 31st SAFA Ordinary Congress in April were women and they all endorsed the Bid. Each one of the 52 SAFA regions had at least one delegate. There were over 60 women present and this is the highest number of women delegates to attend a Congress of the three codes of sport – football, rugby and cricket.
