The FIFA ranking of the North Korean national football team has dropped by two places. In the national soccer rankings for August 2021 announced by the International Football Federation on August 12, the North Korean men’s national soccer team scored 1,170 points, the same as the previous announcement, but the ranking was 111 from 109 in the world in May. Two steps down. Asia ranked 20th, up a notch from 21st in May. North Korea is ranked 111th in the world rankings, which is less than half of all 211 member countries of the International Football Federation. The International Football Federation added that the average ranking of North Korea was 119th since the latest national rankings were released. The world ranking of North Korean men’s soccer is similar to that of 117th 25 years ago, during the March of Hardship in 1995. North Korea’s best performance since 1992 was ranked 57th in the world in 1993. Its worst performance was in 1998 at #181. North Korea has never made it into the top 100 in nine years, having finished 99th in 2012, when it last advanced to the World Cup finals.
North Korea’s soccer performance, which was once regarded as a football powerhouse in Asia, is also in the middle of Asia. It is ranked 20th out of 46 countries in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The top Asian countries are Japan (24th) in the world rankings, followed by Iran (26th), Australia (35th), South Korea (36th) and Qatar (42nd). Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, China, and Oman were ranked 6th to 10th in Asia, while Syria, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bahrain and Jordan were ranked 11th to 15th. Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, and India were ranked 16th to 19th in the Asian ranking, with North Korea ranking 20th out of 46 Asian countries.
Belgium maintained the top spot in the FIFA rankings. 2nd place Brazil, 3rd place France, 4th England England, 5th UEFA Euro 2020 champion Italy, 6th Copa America champion Argentina, 7th Spain, 8th Portugal, 9th and The 10th place went to Mexico and the United States, which respectively advanced to the North and Central America Gold Cup finals.
►►► North Korea will not participate in next year’s U-23 Asian Cup and Women’s Asian Cup
North Korea has decided not to participate in both the AFC U23 Asian Cup to be held in Uzbekistan in 2022 and the Women’s Asian Cup to be held in India. AFC announced on its website on the 29th of last month that “North Korea has confirmed that it will not participate in the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Cup and Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers.” However, no specific reason was mentioned. In April of this year, North Korea also gave up participation in the Asian region’s second qualifying round for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the FIFA Qatar World Cup. At that time, concerns about COVID-19 were cited as the reason for not attending. The AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers will be held from October 23 to 31 this year, and the women’s Asian Cup qualifiers will be held from September 13 to 25 this year. Due to North Korea’s absence, some changes have occurred in the group composition of the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup, which is divided into East and West Asia. North Korea, which belongs to the East Asian region, was tied in Group K along with Japan and Cambodia in the group draw last month. In order to balance each group, AFC has decided to move one of the four teams from Groups G, H, I and J to Group K. Excluding the first seed team of Groups G~J and the ‘host team’ that will host the group stage, a redraw will be held on the 11th of next month for a total of 8 teams. China and Brunei in Group G, East Timor and Philippines in Group H, Myanmar, Hong Kong in Group I, Malaysia and Laos in Group J. In the case of Korea, they are seated in the 1st seed of Group H, so there is no need to move to Group K. There is no change in the results of the women’s Asian Cup qualifying draw held last month. Excluding North Korea, three teams from Singapore, Iraq and Indonesia will compete to advance to the finals in Group C.
►►► Tokyo Paralympic Games opens on August 24, what is the point to watch?
The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, the 16th Summer Paralympic Games, will be held in Tokyo, Japan for 13 days from August 24 to September 5. With a total of 22 events being played, about 4,400 athletes heading to Tokyo will compete in good faith for 539 gold medals.
Let’s take a look at the highlights of the Tokyo Paralympic Games in advance.
1. Badminton and Taekwondo taking their first steps at the Paralympic Games
International competitions for disabled badminton have been held since the 1990s, and the first world championships were held in the Netherlands in 1998. Now I enjoy playing badminton in 60 countries on 5 continents. Badminton, which was first adopted as an official sport in the Paralympic Games, has 14 sub-sports, with a total of 90 players competing in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
Taekwondo was first adopted as an official sport alongside badminton. In the Paralympic Games, only Gyorugi events are held. Some rules apply only to Paralympic Taekwondo. Only kicks aimed at the body count as valid hits. Head kicks are not permitted. In the case of a head attack, a warning and 1 point are awarded to the opponent.
2. Delivering Hope to Refugees, Refugee National Team on the Paralympic Stage
Following the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, a refugee team consisting of five men and one woman will participate in Tokyo as well. The refugee team will be the first to enter the opening ceremony. We promote social inclusion for refugees with disabilities through sports, and deliver hope to the refugees who watch it.
3. Paralympic swimming legend, Daniel Dias’ last competition,
Brazilian sports hero Daniel Dias has heralded his final Olympic appearance. Dias participated in the Paralympic Games three times in a row, starting with the 2008 Beijing Games, and won a whopping 24 medals. This is the most medals ever for a disabled swimmer. And after the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, he hinted at his retirement. Ahead of the upcoming Paralympic Games, he said, “It is a very special feeling, and I expect it to be a competition that will show that we have overcome the difficult situation the world is going through.”
4. Find the main characters of the documentary film ‘Phoenix, Take Off’
Paralympic athletes from all over the world appeared and told their stories in the documentary film ‘Phoenix, Take Off’, which was released through Netflix in August of last year. It will be interesting to see how they will perform in this Olympics. Starting this year, in the United States, medals are awarded equally to both Olympic and Paralympic athletes. This is the first time I have participated in Paralympic Games in 15 or 16 years. It will be an opportunity for a new turning point, saying that the athletes feel the value of the Paralympic athletes.”
Sports Magazine’s order for today is here. Kim Jin-guk in progress so far.
Reporter Jin-guk Kim, Editor Jin-seo Lee, Web Team Sang-il Kim
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