North Korea, the world’s strongest player in women’s soccer, is returning. Accordingly, the Korean women’s soccer team ‘Belho’, which is aiming to advance to the Olympic women’s soccer finals for the first time in history, seems to have to prepare more firmly.
On the 16th (Korean time), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed the 12 teams participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s soccer Asian regional second qualifying round.
5 countries including North Korea, Japan, Australia and China, including the Korean women’s national team led by coach Colin Bell, joined the 2nd qualifying round without first qualifying round, while 7 countries including Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan and India Through this first qualifying round, he won a ticket for the second qualifying round.
Then, in the 2nd qualifying round, only 4 teams, including the 3 teams that took first place in each group and the 2nd best team in each group, will advance to the 3rd final qualifying round. Four teams, two pairs each, will choose the winner of the two Paris Olympics women’s football tickets assigned to Asia in a home-and-away fashion.
The problem is that North Korea has not participated in any recent international competitions, so it is organized in Pot 4, the lowest in the FIFA rankings.
AFC ranked Australia (10th), Japan (11th) and China (13th) as pot 1 (top seed), Korea (17th), Vietnam (33rd), and Taiwan (37th) based on the FIFA rankings in March. ) to Port 2, Thailand (44th), the Philippines (49th), Uzbekistan (50th) to Port 3, India (61st), Iran (67th), and North Korea, whose FIFA rankings have been deleted, to Port 4. put in
As a result, South Korea can meet Australia (or Japan or China) in Pot 1 and North Korea in Pot 4 in the same group for the second qualifying round. Since North Korea has not participated in any international competitions for the past three years due to Corona 19, and there is no FIFA ranking at all, this is what happened by going down to the lowest port regardless of skill.
Even if they do not form a group with North Korea, Korea is more likely to compete indirectly with North Korea over points and goal difference in the second qualifying round due to the rules of the tournament, which grant tickets to only four teams out of 12 teams in the third qualifying round.
If both South Korea and North Korea advance to the third qualifying round, there is a possibility that they will compete for tickets to the Paris Olympics in a home-and-away way.
The AFC will hold the draw for the second qualifying round on the 18th at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The second qualifying round will be held between October 23rd and November 1st.
The third qualifying round to determine who will go to the Olympic stage will be held on February 24 and 28 next year.메이저놀이터
Korean women’s soccer has advanced to the Women’s World Cup three times, but has never made it to the finals in the Olympics, where only two tickets are available. North Korea participated twice, in 2008 and 2012, and was eliminated in the group stage.