North Korea and South Korea consider joint bid to host 2023 Women’s World Cup

South Korea’s football governing body has said it is carefully looking into the possibility of making a joint bid with North Korea for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

The 2023 Women's World Cup could feature a joint bid between North and South Korea.

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Football Federation Australia is closely tracking their 2023 Women’s World Cup rivals, with a potential joint bid by North and South Korea the latest prospect in an already-crowded field.

With formal expressions of interest due to FIFA by March 15, parties eager to host the global showpiece are showing their hands.

Already set to compete against Australia is Colombia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa, in a process that could be shrouded in secrecy given next March’s final decision will be made by FIFA’s ruling council, a 37-strong panel that usually meets in private.

South Korea could join forces with North Korea to bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Picture: AFP

Now South Korea’s football governing body has said it is carefully looking into the possibility of a joint campaign with North Korea on FIFA’s suggestion, in a sign of thawing relations between the two countries.

“FIFA first approached us and talked about the joint bid,” Hong Myung-bo, general secretary at the Korea Football Association, told local news agency Yonhap on Monday.

“We’ve notified our government of this issue.”

The acknowledgment came hours after FIFA president Gianni Infantino appeared to back such a bid.

“I have been hearing for the Women’s World Cup in 2023, the two Koreas,” Infantino said after a meeting of the International Football Association Board in Scotland.

“I have been hearing that. It would be great.”

Sam Kerr and the Matildas could be off to North and South Korea. Picture: Getty

Should a joint party decide join the clutch of hopefuls, such a submission would come with significant risk, given the Korean Peninsula is still technically at war.

However sport has recently been used to foster diplomacy, including North Korea’s participation in last year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea that also featured a combined women’s hockey team.

The ball is also rolling on a combined 2032 summer Olympic bid.

FFA is still on track to submit an expression of interest for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, at which point all confirmed parties will be given more detail about the steps before lodging bidding registration in April and bid books by early October.

Senior officials are understood to be entering the process optimistic but also with “eyes wide open”, wary of not repeating the cataclysmic failure that was Australia’s bid for the men’s 2022 World Cup, controversially awarded to Qatar amid allegations of corruption.

Following reforms, a public vote by all 203 FIFA members chose a joint bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada to host 2026 men’s World Cup over Morocco.

Originally published as North Korea and South Korea consider joint bid to host 2023 Women’s World Cup