Korea to bid for 2020 Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup

Korea has announced its intention to bid for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2020, the national football governing body confirmed Wednesday.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said it notified FIFA that the country wants to host the prestigious women’s youth football tournament and began its preparations to formally launch the bid. The KFA added it has set a 90 million-won ($78,930) budget aside to select the firm that can help make its bid documents.

Korea successfully hosted the men’s U-20 World Cup in 2017, and the KFA said it plans to use existing stadiums. The KFA also said that hosting the U-20 Women’s World Cup will boost the development of women’s football in the country.

The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup started in 2002. So far, Thailand (2004) and Japan (2012) are the two Asian countries that have hosted the competition.

It will be Korea’s second attempt to host the U-20 Women’s World Cup. The country previously tried to host the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, along with the 2018 U-20 Women’s World Cup, but lost its bid to France. Back then, FIFA preferred the two tournaments to be hosted by the same country.

The KFA will need to submit its bid to FIFA by Jan. 18, 2019. The host nation for the 2020 Women’s World Cup will be decided in a FIFA Council Meeting slated for March 2019.

Yonhap