▲ The Korean national team that won the AFC U-23 Championship this year
It is expected that participants born in 1997 will be allowed to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics football game, which is postponed to next year.
In addition, you can use up to 3 wild cards as they are.
The International Football Federation (FIFA) today announced the results of the first meeting of a working group formed to respond to Corona 19 on its website.
FIFA held its first meeting on the phone by establishing a working group in which the Secretary-General and Continental Federation officials participated as Corona 19 was spread around the world.
At this meeting, agenda items such as matches between the national and national teams (match A), the Tokyo Olympics, and the World Cup by ages were discussed to unanimously make recommendations.
The most notable thing the Working Group has decided to recommend to the FIFA Secretariat is the qualifications for the Tokyo Olympics men's soccer tournament.
The working group said, "We will keep the qualifications as they are." "The players born on or after January 1, 1997 and three additional players."
From the 1992 Barcelona Games, only men under 23 (U-23) can participate in the Olympic men's soccer match.
However, only 3 of 18 entries per team can be entered by players over the age of 24 with a wild card.
However, as the Tokyo Olympics was postponed for one year, there was confusion over the qualifications for a 1997 born player who will turn 24 next year.
Since the 1997 students played a major role in the national team in the Olympic qualifiers, it was a great boost to the finals, so there was a voice that they should allow them to participate.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) also sent an official letter to FIFA last month, saying, "It is unfair for players who have been preparing for the preliminary round to compete for the Olympics and are unable to participate in the finals due to the unavoidable reason of Corona 19." To protect their rights to participate in the Olympics.
Eventually, the FIFA Working Group was also in favor of maintaining eligibility for participation in 1997.
This is good news for the Korean national team, led by coach Hak-beom Kim.
In the case of the Korean national team, who won the U-23 Championship of the Asian Football Federation, which served as the finals of the Tokyo Olympics Asia this year, 11 of the 23 players who participated in the tournament were born in 1997.
Meanwhile, the FIFA Working Group recommended that all male and female A matches be postponed indefinitely until June.
This includes the Tokyo Olympic Women's Football Qualifier.
This will delay the playoffs (PO) of the Korea-China Tokyo Olympic Women's Final Asian Qualifiers, which were postponed to June.
Also, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and U-17 Women's World Cup will be postponed indefinitely.
(Photo = Yonhap News)