Next year is a massive year for Banyana Banyana who will be playing in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Fifa has since confirmed the base camps for the 29 teams that have qualified for the tournament, and Banyana will be based in Wellington, New Zealand. They will be housed at the Intercontinental Hotel and will use Porirua Park as their training site.
According to the Centercircle website, a team base camp is like “a home away from home” and includes a training site and accommodation.
The confirmation follows shortly after the draw was conducted in Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau on October 22 and all the 29 qualified teams had a site inspection on the short-listed sites in the country, where they were drawn to play their group matches. The teams then submitted their preferred options to Fifa.
Banyana were represented by head coach Desiree Ellis, team manager Lauren Duncan and media officer Sinethemba Mbatha. For the first time in the history of the Fifa Women’s World Cup, each of the competing countries will use their dedicated team base camps during next year’s tournament.
Australia and New Zealand 2023 will be the first Fifa Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted, the first to be held in the southern hemisphere, and the first with 32 teams – up from 24 in 2019.
Fourteen of the team base camps are in Australia across five host cities for those playing their group stage matches in that country, while a further 15 will be in Aotearoa in New Zealand across four host cities.
“Zambia, who are in Group C with Spain, Costa Rica and Japan will train at Korikori Park in Hamilton, New Zealand. Their base hotel is Novotel Tainui. Nigeria’s final World Cup preparations will be held at Lions FC Stadium in Meanjin, Brisbane, Australia, and they will use the Sofitel Brisbane Hotel for their accommodation.
“The Super Falcons are in Group B with co-hosts Australia, debutants Republic of Ireland and Canada. Morocco, newcomers to the World Cup, will train at Galvin Park Reserve in Melbourne, Australia. The north Africans, who will stay at the Lancemore Mansion Hotel at Werribee Park in Melbourne, Australia have been drawn in Group H along with Germany, Colombia and the Korea Republic,” Centrecircle wrote.
“The three teams that qualify for the Fifa Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 via the play-off tournament in February 2023 will select their team base camps after qualification. Those nations are Cameroon, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Haiti, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Portugal, Senegal, and Thailand.”
Meanwhile, Banyana’s position remains unchanged in the latest Fifa rankings after the world football governing body released the list on Friday.
The reigning Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions are ranked 54th in the world and second on the continent behind fierce rivals Nigeria. The Super Falcons retained top spot on the continent and are 45th on the global list.
The Sasol-sponsored Banyana played their final match of the year in Europe against Australia’s Matildas in London on Thursday last week. While the match ended in a 4-1 defeat for Ellis’ charges, the away outing served its purpose as it was part of the team’s preparations for the upcoming Women’s World Cup.
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