However, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Thursday that North Korea didn’t want to host the match over fears of bacterial infections in Japan.
North Korean officials on Thursday told their Japanese counterparts that they could not play host, without saying why.
“They asked us during half-time if we can organise (it) in Japan,” Japan football association chief Kozo Tashima said after the teams met in a first qualifier in Tokyo, which the hosts won 1-0.
“I told them it was so sudden and that I cannot give them an immediate yes,” Japanese media quoted Tashima as saying.
“I told them it will take us at least two or three days (to answer). I told them it’s difficult,” he said.
The match in Pyongyang would have been the first game in North Korea for Japan’s men’s team since 2011 and a rare international football match in North Korea.
Earlier this week Japan’s foreign ministry warned football fans not to attempt to travel to the country for the match.
“As you know, North Korea takes a hostile view of Japan and travel is not recommended for the general public,” it said on X, formerly Twitter.
Source: CNA
