South Korea urges talks on joint World Cup
Australia govt backs bid to host women’s WC
SEOUL, June 13, (Agencies): South Korea’s football association Tuesday said it wanted talks with China and Japan about a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup along with North Korea, an initiative aimed at easing tensions in the region.
The South’s new President Moon Jae-In first proposed the ambitious idea to FIFA chief Gianni Infantino in a meeting Monday, although Korean officials acknowledge China is likely to be lukewarm.
“We want to start discussions with China and Japan on this idea,” a spokesman for the Korea Football Association (KFA) Cho Jun-Heon told AFP.
South Korea and Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup but a four-way split is unheard of, let alone between two countries -- the Koreas -- who are technically still at war.
KFA president Chung Mong-Gyu told reporters that the North -- which does not have formal diplomatic ties with Japan or South Korea -- would likely be keen to host if the other countries all agreed to participate.
But China could be cool to the proposal as it apparently wants to host the world’s largest sporting event alone, Chung added.
Chinese officials have said they want to host the World Cup at the earliest opportunity, which appears to be 2030.
Speaking at the FIFA meeting Monday, Moon said sport could play a role in easing tensions in the region.
The Australian government will offer financial backing for the country’s bid to host the 2023 women’s soccer World Cup, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday.
The government will back the bid to the tune of A$1 million ($755,800.00) initially with another A$4 million available if it looks like being successful.
The Australian women’s national team, dubbed ‘the Matildas’, are currently ranked eighth and reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the third successive tournament in Canada in 2015.
“It’s a great initiative. It’s a great goal. And I’m excited to announce that the government will be backing the FFA’s bid for Australia to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.
“The Matildas are leaders on the international stage and they are wonderful role models in our community ... wouldn’t it be fantastic to have the Matildas contesting a women’s World Cup on home soil, here in Australia?”
Colombia, Japan, New Zealand and Thailand have all expressed interest in hosting the 2023 tournament but Australia’s experience of successfully staging major sporting events and the government backing would put them among the favourites.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2003 Rugby World Cup, soccer’s 2015 Asian Cup, as well as the co-hosted 2015 cricket World Cup, all drew high praise for organisers.
German soccer fans will have to pay to view broadcasts of any UEFA Champions League games from next year’s season after Sky Plc unit Sky Deutschland secured a sub-license deal with digital sports content and media provider Perform Group.
The pay-TV operator said in a statement on Tuesday that it will broadcast the games via its satellite, cable, IPTV, web and mobile platforms from 2018/19 through 2020/21.
Perform Group will broadcast the games via its Internet platform called DAZN. It will be the first time the tournament will not be available on public broadcaster ZDF.
“We went as far as our pain threshold, but it was not enough,” ZDF sport director Thomas Furmann was quoted as saying by German newspaper Bild on Tuesday, referring to the bidding process for the rights.
One of the top teams in India’s I-League has moved to the rival Indian Super League, which will grow to a 10-strong competition this year, organisers said.
Bengalaru FC, two-time I-League winners since their formation in 2013, will become one of two new ISL franchises when the new season starts in October.
Both Bengalaru and the other new team, Jamshedpur, are backed by major companies -- the Jindal South West conglomerate and Tata Steel respectively.
Parth Jindal, Bengaluru chief executive, said JSW’s decision to bid for an ISL team was in the “interest of long-term future of Indian football”.
“A lot of time and thought has gone into our decision of wanting to be part of the Indian Super League,” he added.
The ISL was launched in 2014 and has outstripped the 10-year-old I-League in broadcast ratings, prompting talk of a merger of the two competitions.
Sevilla announced the appointment on Tuesday of Eduardo Berizzo as coach on a two-year deal until 2019.
The Argentine replaces compatriot Jorge Sampaoli, who left to take over the Argentina national team in May.
Berizzo was in charge of La Liga rivals Celta Vigo for three seasons from 2014, leading the Galicians to last season’s Europa League semi-finals, and to eighth and sixth place finishes in his first two years in charge before coming 13th in the last campaign.
The 47-year-old agreed a deal in principle to join Sevilla, who finished fourth last season, earlier this month and put pen to paper on Tuesday.
“My challenge is the same as Sevilla’s: to keep on winning. It’s more difficult to continue winning than to do so for the first time. We’ll look to strengthen as much as we can in order to improve a side that is already very