The South African Football Association (Safa) has announced they are no longer willing to pursue their bid to host the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup but will shift focus to the 2027 edition.

The country were the only African nation among nine countries that initially submitted a bid for the 2023 World Cup hosting rights in March, just three months after securing a maiden qualification in Ghana.

However, the Fifa council unanimously decided to expand the tournament to 32 teams from 24 in July and reopened the bid, with Belgium and Bolivia pulling out of the race in August.

Before the December 13 deadline for the final bid submission, Safa has now opted to pull out of the race to host the global women’s finals.

Safa president Danny Jordaan broke the news to the media after its Annual General Meeting at the Sandton Convention Centre on Sunday.

“The SAFA NEC unanimously agreed to withdraw from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Bid and focus on the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup – Dr Jordaan,” the Safa disclosed via its twitter account.

The SAFA NEC unanimously agreed to withdraw from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Bid and focus on the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup  – Dr Jordaan

This development comes a few weeks after the country rejected the approach of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to urgently accept to host the 2020 African Women’s Cup of Nations.

It is the second time the country withdrew a bid to host a global women’s tournament, having previously pulled out of the 2016 edition of the Fifa U20 Women’s World Cup.

The withdrawal of South Africa means three countries are now out of the race for the next showpiece, leaving South Korea/North Korea, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Argentina and Australia in the mix.

The host of the next tournament which will be decided by the 37 board members of the FIFA will be announced in May 2020.