The International Netball Federation (INF) has announced that South Africa will host the 16th staging of the Netball World Cup in 2023.
South Africa beat a rival bid from four-time world champions New Zealand to win the hosting rights.
The tournament will be held in the International Convention Centre in the heart of the iconic city of Cape Town, widely renowned for its international reputation in hosting sports and other major events.
This will be the first time the Netball World Cup is going to be held in Africa. The 16-team World Cup will be held over 10 days and will feature 60 matches.
INF President, the Hon. Molly Rhone, OJ, CD, said: “On behalf of the Board of the International Netball Federation, I am delighted to announce that Netball South Africa has been awarded the rights to host the 2023 Netball World Cup.
“We were delighted to receive two exceptional bids and the INF Board was satisfied that both Netball New Zealand and Netball South Africa would be capable of hosting a successful and thrilling NWC2023. The INF Board decided that the significant investment that the South African Government and Western Cape were prepared to make over the next four years in netball facilities and coaching programmes in South Africa, the African continent and beyond would deliver a greater impact on the development of global netball.
“It is an exciting time for netball right now. Our sport is growing in popularity at an unprecedented rate throughout the world. There is increasing competitiveness between the top nations and now three teams from Africa feature in the top 10 of the INF World Rankings. We look forward to working with the Organising Committee to bring the INF’s most important event to South Africa in 2023.”
The tournament is contested every four years. The 2015 World Cup was won by Australia in Sydney, while the 2019 tournament will be held in Liverpool in July.
In the 2019 Netball World Cup, Uganda She Cranes are in group D alongside England, Scotland and Samoa.