The Women's World Cup was first contested in 1991. The eighth edition of the quadrennial tournament will take place in France from June 7 to July 7 this year. Previous hosts were China (twice), Sweden, the United States (twice), Germany and Canada.</s>(Reuters) - South and North Korea’s football associations have registered interest in jointly hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup, FIFA said on Tuesday, in another potential sporting detente after their unified team competed at the Winter Olympics.

The sport’s world governing body received a record nine host submissions, which also came from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.

Each nation has until April 16 to make its final submission, with a decision expected in March next year, FIFA said.

“This is the largest-ever list of MAs (member associations) to have submitted formal expressions of interest to FIFA with a view to hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” said a statement.

In an effort to ease political tensions on the divided Korean peninsula, a unified team from north and south competed at last year’s Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. They also fielded joint teams under a common flag at the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.</s>ZURICH—FIFA says nine soccer federations are interested in hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup including South Korea, which could jointly bid with North Korea.

Brazil and South Africa are in the contest, suggesting underused stadiums built to host the 2014 and 2010 World Cups could be picked.</s>FIFA has confirmed it has received a record number of formal expressions of interest from countries looking to host the Women's World Cup in 2023, with nine possible bidders from four different continents in the hat so far.

FIFA's deadline for expression of interest to host the 2023 tournament was earlier this month, with the nine prospective bidders now given until April 16 to submit their official bidding registration to the world governing body, the next stage of the process.

Among the nine interested countries are Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia, with one hoping to stage the first Women's World Cup in South America.

Expression of interests have also come from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The initial paperwork was also submitted by South Korea, expressing interest in jointly hosting the World Cup with North Korea, as had previously been rumoured, with the possibility of such even publicly welcomed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Never before has a list of interested member associations been so big.

After submitting bidding registration by the middle of next month, FIFA will then send hosting documents to each potential bidder. The deadline for the submission of the bidding book, signed hosting agreement and all other official documentation is then October 6.

Whether all of the currently interested countries make it as far as submitting a formal bid remains to be seen. An announcement regarding the winning bid is expected in March 2020.

Women's football continues to grow at a rapid rate. The Women's Super League in England is now fully professional as of this season, while Spanish pair Atletico Madrid and Barcelona recently played in front of a 60,000 crowd at Wanda Metropolitano.

The 2019 Women's World Cup in France promises to be the biggest and best yet.</s>A joint proposal from North and South Korea is among a record nine bids for the 2023 Women's World Cup, football's world governing body FIFA has announced.

The other bids come from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa, which means four of football's six confederations - Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America - are represented in the contest.

There are two stadiums of note in North Korea. The Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang is the biggest, with a capacity of 50,000 seats.

The Yanggakdo Stadium, also in North Korea's capital, holds 30,000.

Having formally expressed their interest in hosting the ninth Women's World Cup, the 10 federations involved now have a month to return their bidding registrations and until October to submit their bid books, signed hosting agreement and all other related documents.

Unlike the men's tournament, which is voted on by all 211 member associations at a FIFA Congress, the winner of this race will be decided by a vote of FIFA's 37-strong ruling council next March.

In a statement, FIFA said it 'will implement a fair and transparent process, which will include a clear evaluation model as well as a concrete commitment to sustainability and human rights'.

FIFA introduced a human rights element to its bidding contests in 2017 following widespread criticism of the decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

According to its 41-page 'Overview of the Bidding Process', FIFA will require the 'implementation of human rights and labour standards' by the bidding federation, the government and 'other entities' involved in organising the event, including those who build or renovate stadiums, training bases, hotels and airports.

While the joint Korean bid will undoubtedly attract the most interest, Australia were the first to declare their interest and are probably the front-runners in terms of their media campaign.

The announcement of nine potential hosts is a far cry from the last two bidding races when there were only two bidding federations for the 2015 and 2019 editions of the tournament. And the fact they are all new would-be hosts is another indication of the growth of the women's game.

This year's tournament is being staged in France between June 7 and July 7, with England and Scotland among the 24 nations taking part.</s>ZURICH — FIFA says nine soccer federations are interested in hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup including South Korea, which could jointly bid with North Korea.

Brazil and South Africa are in the contest, suggesting underused stadiums built to host the 2014 and 2010 World Cups could be picked.

Other contenders are Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, Japan and New Zealand.

South Korean officials said this month that FIFA approached them to explore a joint bid with North Korea.

Potential candidates have until April 16 to register to bid, then until Oct. 4 to submit bid books.

The 37-member FIFA Council will pick the host in March next year.

The next Women’s World Cup is played June 7-July 7 in France.</s>South Africa are interested in hosting the Women's World Cup in 2023 after submitting a bid, Fifa has confirmed.

Banyana Banyana secured qualification for the Women's World Cup for the first time in 25 years at the 2018 African Women's Cup of Nations in Ghana.

And the southern African nation are looking to become the first African nation to stage the global women's showpiece.

On Tuesday, Fifa announced that a record nine countries, including South Africa have tabled a bid to stage the quadrennial championship.

Other bidding countries are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand and North Korea in a joint bid with South Korea.

According to Fifa calendar, March 16, 2019 was set as the deadline for withdrawing a file, before sending the documents of the file to interested federations two days later.

The deadline date for returning the documents is April 16, 2019, and two days later, Fifa will send the reports to be completed to the associations.

October 4, 2019 is set as the deadline for returning completed reports under Fifa specifications, while in February 2020, Fifa will report back before taking a decision on host country in March 2020.

Having successfully organised Africa's first ever World Cup in 2010, South Africa stand a bright chance of securing the hosting rights for Women's World Cup.</s>North Korea must not use a possible rocket launch as leverage in negotiations with the U.S, a South Korean presidential adviser said Tuesday, saying such a move could be “catastrophic” for global diplomacy on its nuclear program.

U.S.-based websites recently released satellite photographs indicating North Korea has restored structures at a long-range rocket launch facility that it dismantled last year at the start of diplomacy with the United States. Other satellite images show increased activities by vehicles at a separate North Korean facility used to manufacture missiles and rockets for satellite launches.

Some experts say these suggest North Korea may be assembling a long-range rocket to carry out a banned satellite launch following the breakdown of last month’s North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi.

Moon Chung-in, a retired university professor who is now a special adviser to President Moon Jae-in (no relation), said North Korea’s use of a rocket launch or other nuclear activities as a bargaining chip would be a “bad move.”

Moon Chung-in said such a North Korean move could eventually cause a “catastrophic” consequence or a “big disaster” in U.S.-North Korea diplomacy. “I wonder if North Korea should avoid” such an action, Moon said in a panel discussion.

He said both North Korea and the United States must restrain themselves to keep diplomacy alive and start unofficial contacts to resume talks. He said the Hanoi summit showed how “difficult” and “painful” it will be to achieve denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Also Tuesday, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it is worried about the developments at North Korea’s rocket launch site, and that Seoul and Washington have been closely monitoring the area. “We hope the North side will make a wise decision … which would benefit all,” ministry spokesperson Kim In-chul told reporters.

Speaking about the reported activities at the North Korean site, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters last week that “I would be very disappointed if that were happening.” He said it was “a very early report” and that “we’ll see what happens. We’ll take a look. It will ultimately get solved.”

The Hanoi summit fell apart due to disputes over how much sanctions relief North Korea should receive in return for limited nuclear disarmament steps. The United States and North Korea accuse each other of causing the summit’s breakdown, but both sides have avoided harsh criticism of the other and have expressed hope for future negotiations. No official meeting between the countries has been publicly scheduled.

The February 27-28 summit was the second between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump, following their first meeting in Singapore last June.

By Hyung-Jin Kim for the Associated Press.</s>ZURICH (AP) - FIFA says nine soccer federations are interested in hosting the 2023 Women's World Cup including South Korea, which could jointly bid with North Korea.

Brazil and South Africa are in the contest, suggesting underused stadiums built to host the 2014 and 2010 World Cups could be picked.

Other contenders are Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, Japan and New Zealand.

South Korean officials said this month that FIFA approached them to explore a joint bid with North Korea.

Potential candidates have until April 16 to register to bid, then until Oct. 4 to submit bid books.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino holds a soccer ball as he speaks during a press conference after the FIFA Council Meeting, Friday, March 15, 2019, in Miami. The council approved working with Qatar to explore expanding the 2022 World Cup to 48 teams by adding at least one more country in the Persian Gulf to host matches. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

The 37-member FIFA Council will pick the host in March next year.

The next Women's World Cup is played June 7-July 7 in France.</s>ZURICH – South Africa are one of nine nations who have put their name forward to host the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup, with the winner set to be announced in March next year. The other nations in the running are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Japan and New Zealand, while South Korean officials have claimed that they have been approached by Fifa about the possibility of entering a joint bid along with North Korea.

The fact that SA and Brazil, hosts of the respective 2010 and 2014 men's World Cup events, are involved in the bid for the women's showpiece, opens the possibility that one of these nations could get the nod and make use of the stadiums which costs hundreds of millions of Rands to build a few years back.

Each of the bidding nations have until April 16 this year to lodge their official paperwork with Fifa.

South Africa's national senior women's football team, known as Banyana Banyana, will join fellow African nations in Nigeria and Cameroon, among the 24 countries in action at this year's Fifa Women's World Cup in France, starting on June 7.

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North Korea and South Korea express interest in jointly hosting the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.