The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that the Asian Cup qualifying fixture between North Korea and Malaysia has been postponed for the time being.
Datuk Ong Kim Swee’s men were due to travel to Pyongyang this month, with the match slated to take place on the 28th of March, but it now appears that AFC has opted to delay the fixture due to the escalating level of tension between governments of both nations.
“The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competitions Committee have today decided to postpone the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Final Round Qualifier between DPR Korea and Malaysia,” the governing body said via a media statement today.
“The match was scheduled to be played in the DPR Korea capital Pyongyang on March 28, 2017 but the AFC Competitions Committee have taken the decision to postpone the tie after escalating diplomatic tension between the Governments of DPR Korea and Malaysia. A new date for the game will be announced in due course.”
Meanwhile, Football Association of Malaysia have also applauded AFC’s decision to postpone the fixture, claiming that it’s in the best interest of safety of everyone involved.
“Today, we received information from AFC that our match against North Korea, which was scheduled to take place on the 28th of March, has been postponed to another date. We agree and accept this decision on a positive note as it’s the right step to protect the safety of our players and officials, given the diplomatic tension between Malaysia and North Korea,” the statement read.
“As far as the new date and venue is concerned, we leave that for AFC to decide and we’re ready to cooperate in any way, should they need us to,” the statement added.
More to come…
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