Even as three national teams have pulled out, Banyana Banyana are understood to have jetted off to Turkey to take part in the Turkish Women’s Cup amid the continued uncertainty of the tournament because of the devastating earthquake that hit the European country and Syria.
The tragedy that occurred in Turkey cast doubt over the staging of the Turkish Women’s Cup, with the country in mourning and still searching for survors of the quake or the remains of those who perished.
The host city of the Turkish Women’s Cup Alanya, a holiday town, has not been affected as much as the other cities such as Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa and Adana.
The tournament, which originally featured 12 nations, will now have nine teams as the host nation Turkey, Venezuela and Jordan have pulled out.
The Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF) stated that the aftermath of the earthquake was the reason for their women’s national team not taking part.“The FVF informs that, due to the latest events in Turkey and Syria and in solidarity with those affected by both nations, the female Red Wine will not attend Alanya to play the Turkish Women’s Cup 2023,” said the FVF in a statement.
The Jordan Football Association also shared the same sentiments. “The national team cancelled its participation in the Turkish International Friendly Championship, which is expected to be held in Alanya, in light of the current situation there and the repercussions of the earthquake in southern Turkey,” read a statement on the JFA website.
Banyana intend to use the tournament as preparation for the Fifa Women’s World Cup later this year in Australia and New Zealand. Banyana are in Group G alongside Argentina and Italy and Sweden.
In the Turkish Women’s Cup, Banyana were scheduled to play two European teams and one from South America, however, that has been thrown out the window because of the withdrawals of Turkey and Venezuela.
As things stand, Banyana will only play one match against Uzbekistan on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Zambia touched down in Alanya on Monday. The Copper Queens will have a full complement of fixtures. They kick off their tournament today against North Macedonia at the Miracle Sports Complex.
Sowetan was told by people close to Banyana that they were scheduled to fly out on Tuesday night. We reached out to Safa to enquire about the details of the trip, but while the association promised a statement would be released, by the time of publishing, Safa had still not released the update.
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