The first opponent of the Korean national soccer team’s long journey to advance to the finals of the 11th consecutive World Cup has been decided.
The national soccer team, led by coach Jürgen Klinsmann, will begin the Asian regional qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup starting next month. Korea, which participates from the second round of qualifying according to FIFA rankings, was waiting for a country to pass the first round of qualifying.
According to the group draw, Korea’s first opponent was narrowed down to the winner of Singapore and Guam. Singapore, who defeated Guam 2-1 at home on the 12th, won 1-0 in the second away game on the same day and joined the second preliminary round.
As a result, Korea is in Group C along with Singapore, China, and Thailand and will seek to advance to the third round of the preliminary round. Naturally, the opponent for the first game was Singapore.
The national team will play its first match against Singapore at home on November 16th and play an away match against China on the 21st. Afterwards, a two-game series is scheduled, with a home match against Thailand in March next year followed by an away match five days later.
The final schedule for the second preliminary round is in June next year, with an away game against Singapore on the 6th and a home game against China on the 11th.
A total of 36 countries will participate in the second preliminary round, divided into 9 groups of 4 teams. The first and second-place teams from each group will advance to the third preliminary round and automatically qualify for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup finals to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2027.
The third preliminary round will be held from September next year to June 2025. Six countries are organized into three groups and each team plays 10 games home and away. The top two teams from each group advance directly to the World Cup finals.스포츠토토
A total of 6 teams that ranked 3rd and 4th in their groups will be divided into 2 groups and compete in the 4th preliminary round. This time, the top team from each group will advance to the World Cup, and the winning team will advance to the intercontinental playoffs.
The number of countries advancing to the North and Central America World Cup has increased to 48, and the Asian preliminaries also show differences from the existing format. A total of 8.5 tickets are allocated to Asia.