FIFA and the AFC have explicitly ordered the North Korean team not to schedule matches within the country

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2024-06-28 08:56Live broadcast official account

Sports Weekly all-media reporter Ma Tak Heng reported from Kuala Lumpur

At 15 pm Beijing time on June 27, the group draw ceremony for the round of 18 of the third phase of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in Asia was held in Kuala Lumpur. The draw result of the Chinese team is almost a replica of the last World Preliminary Round of 12, and it is in the same group as Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia.

The only absent representative of the North Korean team

The draw for the World Preliminary Tournament group is still more important for the participating teams with "ideas" for the World Cup tickets, especially which teams are in the same group, which will directly affect the entire qualifying situation of the group.

According to the list of guests who attended the draw ceremony provided by the AFC, North Korea was the only one that did not send any representatives from the 18 teams. This seems to be a "common practice", not only in tournaments such as World Cup qualifiers, but also in other activities of the AFC, the North Korean side rarely sends people to participate. Of course, you can also understand that the North Korean team is "not afraid of the opponent", and whoever it encounters is playing with life anyway. However, the only thing to consider is where will North Korea's home stadium for the round of 18 be in the future? In this regard, it is believed that the Japanese men's and women's national teams, which have been "tossed" the most, have the most right to speak. At the beginning of this year, the Japanese women's football team and the North Korean women's football team competed for a ticket to the Paris Olympics, and as a result, they were temporarily scheduled to Saudi Arabia for an away game; When the men's football team visited the North Korean team, the previous inspection team was sent to make various preparations, but in the end it received a request to put the home venue in Japan, the Japanese Football Association categorically refused, and finally the Japanese team won the game against the North Korean team 3-0 directly, and the North Korean team was equal to one less game, but still got the qualification for the round of 18. After that, the North Korean team played their home stadium in Vientiane, Laos.

So, where will the North Korean team put their home stadium during the round of 18? During the course of this draw and interview, the reporter learned that FIFA and the AFC have clearly ordered the North Korean team not to arrange the match to be held in the country. I'm afraid this is enough to worry about the same team as the North Korean team.

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