Next week’s scheduled 2026 World Cup qualifying match between North Korea and Japan has been abruptly cancelled, causing organizers to urgently seek out a new location.
It has been reported that North Korea has decided to cancel their hosting of the match, originally planned for next Tuesday at the Kim Il-sung Stadium in Pyongyang. This decision was made one day before the teams were scheduled to play in Tokyo on Thursday, for the first of their two qualifying matches in Group B for the Asian tournament.
Shortly after the game, in which Japan emerged victorious with a score of 1-0, Kozo Tashima, the head of the Japan Football Association, informed journalists that the rematch in Pyongyang would not take place.
The AFC stated that the game was cancelled due to unforeseen events.
According to a statement released on Friday, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) made the decision to move the match to a neutral venue after consulting with Fifa and other involved parties. This decision was made in response to a notification from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Football Association on March 20, citing unavoidable circumstances.
The AFC has not provided an explanation for the event being cancelled. It has been left to the appropriate Fifa committees to determine the future of the match.
According to the Nikkei Asia website, the game has been relocated to an undisclosed neutral location, with no set date for the event.
North Korean media reports referenced a “serious infectious illness” in Japan, believed to be linked to a potentially lethal version of group A streptococcal disease known as streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), according to the Kyodo news agency.
Specialists from Japan have stated that incidents of STSS will persist to propagate, while authorities are grappling to determine the origin. It is predicted that the number of incidents in 2024 will surpass last year’s unprecedented amount, as the presence of exceptionally potent and contagious strains has been verified in Japan.
Media reports stated that Japan’s team and personnel had scheduled to reach Pyongyang on Monday following their training in Beijing.
In the previous month, a match for the Tokyo Games between the women’s teams from Japan and North Korea was relocated from Pyongyang to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This sudden change was due to complications faced by Japanese football officials in traveling to North Korea, with whom Japan does not have established diplomatic ties.
The second part of the men’s World Cup qualifying match was supposed to take place in North Korea, making it the first international sports event to be held there since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. In response to the outbreak, the government closed its borders and prohibited foreign tourists from entering the country.
In 2019, North Korea’s Pyongyang was the location of a men’s soccer international match for the qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. However, the country ultimately withdrew from the competition due to health concerns stemming from the pandemic.
In June, North Korea is set to hold World Cup qualifying matches with Group B’s two other teams, Syria and Myanmar.
Source: theguardian.com
