2027 Women’s World Cup; South Africa withdraws bid to host

South Africa has cited the dread of submitting a ‘rushed presentation’ in December as the reason for pulling out of the contest to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

December 8th is the deadline for submitting comprehensive plans for the tournament and South African officials believe it would be wiser to try and host the following edition in 2031.

“We felt it was better to present a well-prepared bid for 2031… rather than producing a rushed presentation,” said South African Football Association chief executive Lydia Monyepao.

The withdrawal of South Africa reduces the 2027 contest to three bids — joint ones by Belgium, the Netherlands Germany; Mexico, and the United States; and one from Brazil.

A FIFA congress on May 17th, 2024 will decide which bid succeeds and follows co-hosts Australia and New Zealand in staging the increasingly popular four-year tournament.

Spain are the champions having defeated England 1-0 in a final watched by a crowd of 75,784 in Sydney last August.