▲ South and North Korean national football team players greeting
North Korean football's participation in the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian qualifiers next month has been missed.
The Asian Football Federation (AFC) announced on its official website that "North Korea Football Association's Qatar World Cup Asian qualifiers and 2023 AFC Asian Cup absences have been confirmed."
North Korea, which is in Group H of the Qatar World Cup Asia 2nd Qualifier, along with South Korea, Turkmenistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka, sent an official letter to the AFC at the end of last month to announce that they would not participate in the qualifiers.
It has been reported that the reason for the absence was due to concerns about Corona 19.
The AFC tried to persuade North Korea to participate, but it seems that North Korea has not changed its position in the end.
Accordingly, the schedule of the Group H preliminaries held in Korea next month will be partially changed.
Our national team, led by coach Paulo Bento, had to play four games, including the North Korean War, but reduced to three.
AFC said, "Details on Group H rankings will be announced later."
(Photo = Courtesy of the Korea Football Association, Yonhap News)