Netball World Cup pools confirmed

Cape Town – Four pools for the first stage of the Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023) have been confirmed.

The NWC2023 draw took place on Wednesday at the East London Convention Centre.

The event, broadcast live around the world, was attended by provincial and national government officials, the board of directors of NWC2023, representatives of World Netball, Netball South Africa, sponsors, partners and the general public.

NWC2023 will be held at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town from July 28 to August 6, 2023.

World Netball president Liz Nicholl CBE congratulated all the teams that vied for success in the five regional qualifiers.

“Forty-two of our member countries participated – involving over 500 athletes, more than 45 international umpires, over 200 coaches, managers and primary carers and thousands of administrators and wonderful volunteers who have all played their part in the road to next year’s World Cup.

“It was a joy to see the matches broadcast widely around the world, reaching new audiences and giving our amazing sport the visibility it deserves … but now it’s Africa’s time to shine,” Nicholl said.

Before the draw, the 16 qualified teams were seeded according to their World Netball ranking on November 3. The top eight seeds were then placed into pools A to D. The two remaining teams in each of the four pools were drawn at random in two stages.

The groups for the preliminary stages of NWC2023 are:

The first stage of the tournament commences on July 28, 2023 with the teams competing in a round robin format in the pools.

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa noted the importance of this milestone on the road to Cape Town 2023.

“Today’s draw marks an important milestone on our roadmap towards the biggest sports event to be hosted by South Africa since the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

“We are grateful that World Netball trusted us enough to award the hosting of their most significant asset to South Africa and the African continent.

“What makes the event particularly important in today’s South Africa, is that it is the first and biggest event for women’s sports,” Mthethwa said.

Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane said the highly anticipated team draw signals that they are well on their way to the tournament.

“With the draw now having taken place, we are looking ahead to the event ticket sales, which will commence from Monday December 5, 2022.

For more information visit www.worldnetball.sport.

Cape Times