Hong Kong should bid to co-host the 2031 Fifa Women’s World Cup with Macau and Greater Bay Area cities, Fok says

City delegate told NPC there were enough facilities in Kai Tak Sports Park and Guangzhou Nansha Urban Sports Complex to meet needs of the competition
Fok also suggested a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Sports Bay Area should be established, akin to the likes of New York, San Francisco and Tokyo

Fifa

Mike Chan

Published: 8:00am, 6 Mar 2024

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Hong Kong, Macau and cities in the Greater Bay Area should launch a bid to co-host the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2031, Kenneth Fok Kai-kong told the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday.

Fok, one of the city’s delegates to China’s top legislature, said Saudi Arabia’s position as sole bidder for the men’s version in 2034 made a joint bid “more feasible”, and highlighted the facilities already available in the region.

China has hosted the tournament twice before; the inaugural competition in 1991, and again in 2007.

In a document submitted to the NPC session in Beijing, Fok said there was less chance of the men’s version returning to Asia in the foreseeable future, because of Fifa’s rotation policy.

The NPC session is part of the key annual meetings of the top legislature and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top advisory body, with the two gatherings commonly known as the “two sessions”, or lianghui.

Kenneth Fok said the experience of coordinating the National Games would make a joint hosting arrangement feasible. Photo: Handout

“With the Greater Bay Area co-hosting the National Games in 2025, we have enough facilities in Kai Tak Sports Park and Guangzhou Nansha Urban Sports Complex to meet the needs of competition,” he wrote.

“As we normalised the coordination and communication mechanism established by the three governments at the National Games, we will definitely be able to jointly host the Women’s World Cup.”

Pui Kwan-kay, president of the Hong Kong Football Association, said the idea was not a new one, adding the governing body had held preliminary discussions with Sun Wen, the vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association, during last year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re at an initial stage for sure but I support this for sure as I have been promoting women’s football in Hong Kong for long,” Pui said. “There were some talks but we still have a few years ahead of us, so we will see.”

While Kai Tak and the 60,000-seat sport stadium in Nansha would meet Fifa requirements, Macau’s Olympic Sports Centre would almost certainly need significant improvement to be brought up to standard.

China has hosted the World Cup twice before, in 1991 and in 2007, when the national team lost to Norway in the quarter-final (above). Photo: AFP

In another submission, Fok also suggested a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Sports Bay Area should be established, and compared its potential to the likes of New York, San Francisco and Tokyo.

“We have rich sports resources in the area with the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup, which has a long history, as well as the Macau Grand Prix,” he wrote. “There is excellent hardware in Kai Tak and Nansha, too, not to mention there are 68 arenas that are undergoing upgrades.”

Fok said the GBA should have six core sporting functions, including becoming a high-level athlete training base, and a site for sporting organisations to base their regional headquarters.