SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan believes Banyana Banyna have a chance to make it out of the group stages of the FIFA Women’s World Cup when the global showpiece kicks off in July 2023.
The draw for the 2023FIFA Women’s World Cup was confirmed on Saturday in Auckland, New Zealand, and Banyana were pitted against Italy, Sweden and Argentina in Group G.
“When you look at the World Cup, it has the 32 best teams in the world and every group is tough. But looking at our group, I think we stand a chance and we have to prepare well now,” said Jordaan, who attended the draw.
“We don’t have a world champion in our group, so we do stand a chance but it won’t be easy.
“All African teams, I think, are in extremely strong groups. We hope that one or two African teams get through to the second round.”
“We have been to France and this is our second time [at the World Cup], we have to go through to the next round.”
Meanwhile, Jordaan also used the trip to also sell South Africa’s bid to host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup to the attendees of the draw.
“As far as bidding is concerned, we are waiting for two things; for FIFA to bring out the regulations requirements for bidding countries. Germany is here and they are bidding around and talking, and I have also been interacting with different people. So there is a strong feeling that we should be one of those who will be there at the end.
“It’s still a long way to go. We have to get government approval and acceptance of our credentials from FIFA and get full scale of the bidding. But so far it is very encouraging.”
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