Thursday | July 6, 2023
The 9th FIFA Women’s World Cup featuring 32 nations is scheduled to start on July 20 and ends on August 20, 2023, in Australia and New Zealand. But in South Africa, things took a dramatic turn 18 days before the actual event began and four days prior to departing for New Zealand.
The impasse between the South African Football Association (SAFA) and the SouthAfrica Players Football Union (SAPFU) has been swiftly resolved.
It took a charity organization, the Motsepe Foundation, to break the deadlock that involved SAFA, under its President Danny Jordan and SAPFU, led by its President Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe.
Banyana Banyana, the SA senior women’s football team, boycotted a friendly match against Botswana on Sunday.
The players demanded bonuses from SAFA before leaving for New Zealand in view of the World Cup organized by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) beginning July 18, 2023. Australia and New Zealand are co-hosting the mega soccer event.
As a result of players revolt of the friendly match, SAFA frantically put together a makeshift squad to honour this particular fixture. Had South Africa not turned up to play, FIFA was going to slap the nation with a sanction. Suffice to state that SA went down by 5-0 at Tsakane Stadium in EKurhuleni, a municipality in Gauteng Province, east of Johannesburg.
On the table already, was a guaranteed $30, 000 [R562, 000] FIFA is paying each participant in the first round of the global showpiece. Well and good.
However, Banyana Banyana needed bonuses from SAFA, the custodian of the country’s dominant sport. This was the bane of the conflict between players, represented by their union (SAPFU), and the country’s football association.
Compounding the deadlock was the imminent departure of the team to the world cup downunder. This matter was resolved by the intervention of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe and Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa. Motsepe Foundation donated R6 million which will see each SA player walk away R230, 000 taking their World Cup windfall to R792, 000. These are the earnings in the group stage of the tournament.
The players accepted the financial gesture from the Motsepe Foundation and departed on Wednesday night to make their journey to New Zealand via Australia.
South Africa are in Group G alongside Sweden, Italy and Argentina. Reaching this stage by virtue of being crowned the 2022 African Cup of Nations, the SA ladies will kick off their World Cup first match with Sweden at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, on Saturday, July 23 at 7h00.
World Cup Friendly
Before SA women’s team go toe-to-toe with Sweden, it will take on Costa Rica in a friendly encounter at Nga Puna Wai Sports Hub in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday, July 15, at 20:00.
United States of America are the current holders after winning it in 2019.