The Korea Football Association (KFA) and the Korea National Park Service (KNPS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Bukhansan Ecological Exploration Center within Bukhansan National Park on Friday.
The agreement was designed to combine football culture with the culture of visiting national parks, leveraging the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America to deliver environmental protection messages to broader generations and expand sustainable ESG activities.
Through the partnership, the two organizations agreed to cooperate in various areas, including spreading Korean football cheering culture, promoting the value of national parks and endangered species protection, conducting joint ESG campaigns, and producing and selling collaboration goods.
In particular, the two organizations will jointly produce and launch a collaboration product called "National Football Team Bandali," combining the national parks' signature character, the Asiatic black bear "Bandali," with the Korean national football team.
A portion of the sales proceeds will be used for projects to enhance biodiversity in national parks and to protect and restore endangered species.
In addition, banners cheering for the national football team will be posted at the entrances of major national park trails across the country, where visitors can write their own messages of support.
The cheering messages will be delivered to the national team players through video.
"Ahead of the 2026 North America World Cup, we have created a meaningful collaboration that combines football content, which draws strong public interest, with the environmental and ecological value of national parks," a KFA official said. "We will continue to pursue various ESG activities so that sports can contribute to spreading social value."
