Banyana’s opponents for World Cup playoff revealed

South Africa have been drawn against Chinese Taipei, Ecuador and Uzbekistan in their three matches at the Women’s World Cup playoff tournament in November and December after a draw conducted in Zurich on Thursday

They will play against Chinese Taipei, otherwise known as Taiwan, in their first game, then Ecuador and finally Uzbekistan.

There are six teams involved in the tournament, with Ghana and Papua New Guinea also competing but each country only plays three games.

The venue for the tournament from November 23-December 5 was not announced by FIFA and it will only be known later, along with the kick-off times for the games, world football’s governing body said at the draw.

Points are awarded for the results and the top two finishers in the standings advance to a final play-off tournament to be held next February, where there will also be six teams involved.

Chinese Taipei (40th) and Uzbekistan (51st) are ranked higher than Banyana (57th) in the latest FIFA women’s rankings, while Ecuador are 61st.

Chinese Taipei are three-time Asian champions and competed at the first Women’s World Cup in 1991, where they reached the quarterfinals.

Ecuador went to the 2015 Women’s World Cup but lost all three matches while Uzbekistan have never previously qualified.

MATCH SCHEDULE

Matchday 1:

Papua New Guinea v Uzbekistan

Chinese Taipei v South Africa

Ecuador v Ghana

Matchday 2:

Ghana v Uzbekistan

Ecuador v South Africa

Chinese Taipei v Papua New Guinea

Matchday 3:

South Africa v Uzbekistan

Ghana v Papua New Guinea

Chinese Taipei v Ecuador