December 12 – South Africa have pulled out of the running to stage the 2023 Women’s World Cup saying they will not be submitting a bid book and other proposed hosting documentation by Friday’s deadlineThe South African FA has been on a collision course with Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa over the future of football in the country which would need government guarantees to stage the tournament.
“We have resolved that as an association we should not proceed with the bid,” said Safa’s acting chief executive officer Hay Mokoena.“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”.Conversely, 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 the bid deadline on Friday.
Football Federation Australia have abandoned plans to bid for the tournament alone and will instead partner with New Zealand Football to co-host the expanded 32-team tournament.
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Japan and possibly South Korea (maybe in a joint bid with North Korea) are the other interested parties with the successful candidate to be announced in May.
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