LONDON (Agencies): A joint bid by North and South Korea to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup has been talked up by Gianni Infantino, with the Fifa president saying such a move “would be great”.
South Korean football’s governing body said on Monday it is looking into the possibility of a joint bid with its neighbours, although no official talks have been held.
“Fifa first approached us and talked about the joint bid,” said Hong Myung-bo, general secretary at the Korea Football Association. “We’ve notified our government of this issue.”
Expressions of interest are to be submitted to Fifa by 15 March, registration completed by 16 April and bid books submitted by 4 October. Australia, Colombia, Japan and South Africa have already expressed interest in bidding. “I have been hearing for the Women’s World Cup in 2023, the two Koreas,” Infantino said. “I have been hearing that. It would be great.”
A combined Korean Olympic bid is already in the works. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean president Moon Jae-in announced plans in September to jointly bid for the 2032 Summer Games.
The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Sport has been used to foster diplomacy and North Korea’s participation in last year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, including a combined women’s ice hockey team, spurred reconciliation by the neighbours.
“They have been in a very, very difficult situation until recently,” Infantino said. Hong said Fifa first mentioned the possibility of a joint Korean bid at a Fifa meeting last month but there is still a way to go before an official .
“This issue of making a joint bid with North Korea needs to be discussed with the government,” Hong said. “But we have not received a definitive answer yet from the government.” Fifa’s council will vote on the bids in March 2020.
