North Korea’s national team has rescheduled another tournament in Pyongyang. The team suffered a forfeit in the last match against Japan due to a sudden change of home venue, and this time it will not be held in Pyongyang.
“North Korea has changed the venue for its home match in the North American qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America,” NK News, a U.S.-based media outlet specializing in North Korea, reported on June 21 (KST). The match will be held in Laos, a neutral country,” the news outlet reported.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) also announced that the North Korea-Syria match will be played in neutral Laos. The Syrian Football Association (SFA) did not provide a specific reason for the change of venue, pointing to North Korea’s arbitrary change of home stadium. Syria also faced North Korea last November in neutral territory in Saudi Arabia without playing in Pyongyang, 카지노사이트킴 winning 1-0.
In March, North Korea made another inexplicable decision. The fourth match of Group B of the second Asian qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup North America 2026 was scheduled to be played in Pyongyang. But North Korea gave the Asian Football Confederation a unilateral notice just five days before kickoff. “It was so sudden that I couldn’t answer right away,” Japan Football Association president Kozo Tajima said in the mix zone after the match in Tokyo.
Asian Football Confederation Secretary General Tato Windsor John announced that “the World Cup Asia 2017 Second Qualifying Round Group B match between North Korea and Japan will not be canceled” but was unable to find a neutral venue, while FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee announced that “the fourth match between North Korea and Japan in Group B of the World Cup Asia 2017 Second Qualifying Round was not played due to the DPRK’s unexpected refusal to host the match at home. North Korea has been awarded a 0-3 forfeit.”
North Korea currently sits in third place in Group B of the second qualifying round in Asia. Japan leads with 12 points, Syria is second with seven points and Myanmar is fourth with one point.