SA Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has announced the association will bid to host the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Motlanthe divulged the news on Saturday after the matter was discussed at Safa’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting, which sat for the first time after the association’s June elective congress.
A number of key decisions and appointments were made at the meeting including the bid to stage the global showpiece.
“The NEC has resolved that we must bid to host the World Cup for Women in 2027 and as the administration we will duly inform Fifa and then start the process around that hosting [and bidding],” Motlanthe said.
If Safa are successful in their bid SA will become the first African country to host the Women’s World Cup.
SA hosted the 2010 Fifa Men’s World Cup and 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup and have the infrastructure in place that they can use in 2027.
However, SA will face tough competition from other bidders such as the US, Mexico, Italy and Chile.
There are also other countries that have revealed their intention to announce bids to co-host the Women’s World Cup. One of those joint bids will come from Germany, Belgium and Netherlands and another is from Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden.
With the Safa NEC having given its management the go-ahead to proceed with formulating the bid, Motlanthe said the organisation has also set up a meeting with the government to secure its backing.
“We start at home first, we start at the NEC. The NEC has agreed, then it is for us to engage other stakeholders,” he said.
“Of course the government is the first one [of those stakeholders]. We have a meeting set with them because now we have a green light from the NEC.”
