The Africa Netball World Cup Qualifiers will run from the 21st – 27th August, and are the second of the five qualifiers for the Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023), in Cape Town South Africa.
The event will be hosted by Netball South Africa, and will take place in Pretoria where the hosts South Africa, as well as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Eswatini will all be participating.
The two top finishing teams from the event will then be invited by World Netball to compete at the NWC2023, this does not include South Africa who have already pre-qualified for the NWC2023 as hosts.
If South Africa finish in the top two, the third place team will be invited to compete at NWC2023.
The competition will be playing in a round-robin format with the 9 teams split into two pools based on the most recent results from the Africa Cup 2021 final placings.
Here are the two pools:
- South Africa
- Namibia
- Zimbabwe
- Botswana
- Tanzania
- Malawi
- Zambia
- Kenya
- Eswatini
In the pool matches teams will play all other teams within their pool. In the event of a win they will be awarded two points, for a draw they will be awarded one point, and for a loss they will not be awarded any points.
At the end of the round-robin/pool stage the teams in the pool shall be ranked according to points, and the top two teams from each pool shall progress to the semi-finals, the rest of the teams shall progress to play cross pool classification matches for positions 5-9.
In the event of a tie in points at the end of the round-robin, the result of the match between the two highest teams will be used to decide who should be higher ranked. However, if the two teams drew their match or more than two teams have the same number of points at the end, goal average of the matches will be used to decide the placings, if this is identical then goal difference will be used, and if there is still a tie then goals scored will be used.
Draws will not be allowed in the play-off matches, and extra-time will be played in the event of a tie at the end of the 4th quarter.
Here is the schedule:
International viewers will be able to watch all matches live for free on NetballPass, here.
Those in Sub-Saharan Africa* will be able to catch all of the action via SuperSport.
SuperSport Linear Channels:
South Africa – Variety 4
Rest of Africa – Variety 3, Variety 4, Go Select 1 & 2
All the matches will also be streamed live on the SuperSport App.
Speaking on the excitement of the event, Director of Africa Netball, Cecilia Molokwane said: “Playing at a World Cup is a dream of any athlete, representing your country at that level is the highest honour.
“As we get ready and prepare to host and stage the first ever Netball World Cup on African soil , I am extremely excited and humbled that we will also get an opportunity to host the Africa Netball World Cup Qualifiers right here in our rainbow country South Africa.
“This will serve as a perfect yardstick to gauge our state of readiness with a year to go until the Netball World Cup 2023 and help us to prepare.
“As a country (South Africa), it’s truly an honour to host our sister countries as we all campaign to represent our respective countries at next year’s World Cup.
“We have been very intentional about ensuring that we take netball back to the people and make netball fashionable, but most importantly awakening the giant that is sleeping that is Africa, such events help us in bringing that vision to life.”
*The following countries can watch on SuperSport: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Republic of/Brazzaville), Congo (Democratic Republic of), Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia (The), Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Niger, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Somalia (including Somaliland), South Africa, South Sudan, St Helena and Ascension, Sudan, eSwatini , Tanzania (United Republic of), Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
