*This content was translated by AI.
South Korea's national soccer team is evaluated as the 17th strongest among 42 teams that have confirmed their advance to the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup finals. In Asia, of course, it is the highest ranking among the teams in Group A in the World Cup finals.
According to the power ranking of the team that advanced to the North American World Cup finals released by global soccer media Golcom on the 20th (Korea Standard Time), South Korea ranked 17th overall. The media updates the power ranking at the end of the A-match period, this time reflecting the performance of the 2025 African Football Confederation (CAF) Africa Cup of Nations, which ended with Senegal's recent victory.
Regarding the Korean national team, the media said, "Korea's advance to the finals in North American World Cup is not surprising at all. This is because he has advanced to the World Cup finals for the past 10 consecutive times. We have not lost a single time in this Asian qualifying round and have confirmed our advance to the finals," he said.
"However, the World Cup qualifiers were not smooth, with only three consecutive draws at one point. Another variable is that some key players, including Son Heung-min, are getting older. "Fortunately, coach Hong Myung-bo is said to have quickly returned the national team to normal after the replacement of coach Jurgen Klinsmann." He explained, "It seems that we have begun to change the generation of the national team."
The media said, "Few predict that South Korea will be able to get close to the semifinals of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup due to the 0-5 defeat in the warm-up match against Brazil in October last year. Nevertheless, he/she succeeded in turning the mood by beating Paraguay, Bolivia and Ghana, he/she added, "Instead, the finals, which are in the same group as Mexico, South Africa, and European playoff (PO) Pass D (Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland, North Macedonia), are predicting a difficult match."
In November last year, the media rated Korea Electric Power Co. 15th out of 42 teams, but this time, the ranking fell slightly. Instead, Japan's ranking fell sharply from 10th to 17th during the same period, with mixed feelings. Thanks to this, Korea overtook Japan to become the highest ranking in Asia. Asia is followed by Korea (17th), Japan (18th), Uzbekistan (32nd), Iran (33rd), Australia (34th), Saudi Arabia (36th), Qatar (38th) and Jordan (39th).
South Korea's ranking was highest not only in Asia but also in Group A of the World Cup finals. Mexico ranked 26th after South Korea, while South Africa ranked 30th. Mexico rose in the rankings, while South Africa fell even though the performance of the African Cup of Nations was reflected. South Africa, considered the weakest team in Group A, was eliminated early in the round of 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations.
First to ninth place overall remained unchanged in the order of Spain, Argentina, England, Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Norway. While Morocco, the runner-up at the African Cup of Nations, fell to 14th place, Belgium, Colombia, Brazil and Senegal rose to 10th to 13th. Among the teams that have been confirmed to advance to the finals, the team with the lowest power ranking was Haiti in North and Central America. The media power ranking will be released again in a 48-nation system after the results of the A-match period and the European PO and intercontinental PO passing teams come out in March.
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*This content was translated by AI.
