*This content was translated by AI.
South Korea's futsal national team was also eliminated early in the group stage at the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) futsal Asian Cup, which was the third foreign coach in history.
The Futsal national team, led by Portuguese coach Paulo Fernandez, lost 2-3 to Iraq in the second Group A match of the tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the 29th (Korea time). At one point, he succeeded in coming from behind 2-1 but lost two goals at the end of the game and suffered a comeback defeat.
South Korea, which lost 0-5 to Indonesia in the first round earlier, lost all two of its group matches (0 points), falling behind Indonesia and Iraq (more than six points), which won two consecutive games, and its elimination from the group stage was finally confirmed regardless of the result of the final match against Kyrgyzstan (2 losses). The tournament, in which 16 teams participated, will be divided into four groups of four teams, and the first and second places in each group will be in the quarterfinals tournament.
It is the last three consecutive tournaments that the Korean futsal national team has been eliminated from the group stage of the Asian Cup, and 10 consecutive tournaments based on the standard of the tournament in which South Korea entered the finals. The last time South Korea's futsal passed the Asian Cup group stage and reached the tournament was at the 2004 Macau Games (the quarterfinals).
In particular, South Korea was eliminated without a single win since the 2008 Thailand tournament, having won 1 and 2 in the group stage at the 2007 Japanese tournament. If they fail to win the final group match against Kyrgyzstan on the 31st, they will be "unwinless" for the eighth time in this tournament.
South Korea ranks only 57th in the FIFA futsal rankings. It is the 15th Asian team. Indonesia, which suffered a crushing defeat of 0-5, is the host country and 24th in the FIFA futsal ranking (6th in Asia) and 37th in Iraq (8th in Asia). Kyrgyzstan, the final team in the group stage, is ranked 43rd overall and 10th in Asia. The top five in Asia are Iran (5th), Thailand (11th), Japan (13th), Vietnam (20th), and Uzbekistan (22nd), while Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and Argentina are ranked 1st to 4th worldwide.
The Korea Football Association appointed Fernandez in September last year and became the third foreign coach in history after Raul Escudero (Spain) and Nasser Saleh (earn). However, he failed to overcome the limit once again in the Asian Cup finals and got the bitterness of early elimination. Fernandez's contract is until this tournament.
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*This content was translated by AI.
