So much for U.S.-North Korean detente.
The Koreans voted for Morocco rather than the winning joint bid of the U.S., Canada and Mexico to host the 2026 World Cup.
South Korea cancelled out the North Korean ballot and the North American bid picked up 133 more votes to defeat Morocco 134-65 in a vote of FIFA member associations on Wednesday at the FIFA Congress in Moscow. The joint bid carried the day with 67 per cent of the vote in a single ballot.
Iran was the lone association to choose the "none of the above" option in the electronic voting.
The North American bid had CONCACAF, its home confederation, solidly behind it.
CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, voted 29-0 in favour of the North American bid. Cuba abstained.
"We knew we had their support," Peter Montopoli, general secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association and Canada's bid director, said in an interview. "But they also knew that this was best for CONCACAF."
It helped that the CONCACAF president is Victor Montagliani, a native of East Vancouver who was twice elected president of the Canadian Soccer Association and under whom the Canadian bid was launched.
Perhaps more surprising is the success the North American bid had in the African confederation (CAF). While Morocco got 41 votes from its continental neighbours, 11 went to the North America bid.
CSA president Steve Reed and Mexican counterpart Decio de Maria both spent time in Africa in the final days before Wednesday's vote.
"We couldn't say much, but we had a strong conviction of 10-plus (votes in Africa)," said Montopoli.
Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde Islands, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe all threw their votes the North American way.
Europe went 41-12 for the joint America bid with Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia and Turkey among those that sided with Morocco.
The Dutch apparently said they had a lot of Moroccans playing in their league and felt compelled to vote that way.
"Many member associations have many, many reasons to vote in different directions," said Montopoli.
Russia, the 2018 tournament host, voted for the North American bid. Qatar, the 2022 host, chose Morocco.
Spain abstained, its attention diverted by news that national team manager Julen Lopetegui was headed to Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid after the tournament. Unimpressed, Spain fired him on the spot.
Slovenia also abstained.
South America (CONMEBOL) voted 9-1 for the North American bid with Brazil opting for Morocco. Oceania was 11-0 in favour of the joint bid.
Asia (AFC) voted 33-11 for North America.
North Korea's football federation picked Morocco just two days after U.S. President Donald Trump and Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in a historic summit in Singapore.
"This was not a vote in the United Nations," said U.S. Soccer Federation president Carlos Cordeiro.
Cordeiro said the North American bid had a "clear pathway to victory ... for some time."
"And that triggered a strategy — how to get there. We've been saying for some time now that step No. 1 was to basically consolidate our support at home, meaning the Western Hemisphere."
The bid then looked to Asia for votes, finishing off in Europe and Africa.
"I would say about 10 days ago we had a sense that this was breaking our way ... We knew it was going to go well for us," he told a media conference call.
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
