Published : Feb. 2, 2021 - 19:50
South Korean women's soccer team (Yonhap)
South Korea's final Olympic women's football qualifiers against China have been pushed back from later this month to April due to effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said Tuesday the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) informed it of the postponement earlier in the day.
The two Asian countries had been scheduled to meet on Feb. 19 in South Korea and again on Feb. 24 in China, with a spot at the Tokyo Olympics at stake. The two-legged series will now be played during the FIFA women's international match window, set between April 5 and 13. The aggregate score will determine the winner.
The KFA said the AFC cited COVID-19 as the reason for the schedule change but offered no further details.
South Korea and China were supposed to meet in February last year but their matches were postponed multiple times as the rest of the football world was scrambling to find its footing in the face of the global pandemic. After the Olympic Games themselves got postponed by a year, the football matches were rescheduled for early 2021.
Then came Tuesday's announcement, with no guarantee that the situation will improve by April or that even the Olympics will take place.
South Korea are ranked 18th in the world, three spots below China. In 37 all-time meetings, South Korea have four wins, six draws and 27 losses against China.
Women's football made its Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996, and South Korea, dubbed Taeguk Ladies, have never qualified for the event. (Yonhap)