FIFA President Gianni Infantino said yesterday he was willing to try and set up a football match between North and South Korea as a way of easing hostility on the divided peninsula.
On a visit to South Korea which coincided with a recent upsurge in tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang, Infantino said such a match would highlight the spirit of football as a game “beyond borders” that can unify rather than divide.
“We should bring everyone together around a football pitch... I’m ready to help and assist in whatever way is necessary,” Infantino told reporters.
Military tensions have been running high on the peninsula following North Korea’s nuclear test in January and a ballistic missile test staged a month later.  
Cross-border relations have sunk to their lowest level in years, with almost all official communications cut off. The two Koreas last held a friendly match in Seoul in 2005. Before that they played two consecutive games in October 1990, in Seoul and Pyongyang, under the title “Inter-Korea Unification” matches.
Sporting exchanges pretty much halted, along with other ties, as relations soured.  “Sometimes imagination can come true. Sometimes dreams can come true. These things can become a reality,” Infantino said.  
The FIFA boss also defended moves to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup to 40, beginning in 2026.  “I believe that it’s important to increase the number of teams on the World Cup because we have to be more inclusive,” he said. “Eight more teams will be perfectly justifiable,” he said, adding he was considering six more berths for the Asia region.  

Serbia coach Curcic steps down
Serbia coach Radovan Curcic stepped down yesterday, the country’s football federation announced. Curcic explained via a statement on the Serbian federation website that “the conditions were not right for me to put in place my project to qualify Serbia for the World Cup in Russia.”
He added: “I hope Serbia answer our wish to qualify for the World Cup” in 2018. Serbia finished second bottom of their Euro 2016 qualifying group after winning just twice in eight games. They have been drawn in Group D in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup along with Wales, Austria, the Republic of Ireland, Moldova and Georgia. They begin their campaign to qualify for the finals in Russia at home to Ireland on September 5.
Curcic, 44, was appointed in November 2014 as the successor to Dick Advocaat. No replacement has been announced by the Serbian federation.

Russian team Mordovia on strike over wage arrears
The footballers of Russian Premier League club Mordovia Saransk have refused to turn up for training because of a three-month wage arrears, local media reported.
“It was the players’ joint decision,” Sport Express daily quoted Mordovia’s acting manager Marat Mustafin as saying. “We expect a meeting with the club management in the near future because the problem should be solved.”
Mordovia are currently rock bottom of the Premier League with 18 points from 25 matches, two points behind Kuban Krasnodar, who are in the relegation play-offs spot. Earlier this month Mordovia manager Andrei Gordeyev stepped down from his post without giving any explanations for his decision.
However, the club stressed that Mordovia’s match on Sunday against league leaders Rostov was not under threat. “There is no question of Sunday’s match not going ahead,” Mordovia spokesman Vitaly Laptev said.
“The club has already promised the players to settle the issue within a week. Maybe in the next couple of days.”
Premier League chiefs, meanwhile, said they were watching the situation closely, and would intervene to resolve the problem as soon as possible. “It’s inadmissible to have such a long-term wage arrears,” R-Sport agency quoted Sergei Pryadkin, the Premier League president, as saying.