*This content was translated by AI.
South Korea's futsal national team, which played in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) futsal Asian Cup, was eliminated early with all three losses.
The Futsal national team, led by Portuguese coach Paulo Fernandez, lost 2-3 to Kyrgyzstan in the third Group A match of the tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the 31st (Korea time).
South Korea, which was earlier confirmed to be eliminated in the group stage after losing 0-5 to Indonesia and 2-3 to Iraq, failed to win points in the final match and was eliminated by all three losses.
The attempt to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 19 years also failed. Since beating Turkmenistan in the 2007 Japanese competition, the Korean futsal team has been winless in all eight finals, including this one. Among them, this is the fifth time that all three losses have been eliminated.
South Korea has been eliminated from the group stage of the Asian Cup for the 10th consecutive time by the standards of the tournament that participated in the finals. The last time the Korean futsal team reached the Asian Cup tournament was at the 2004 Macau tournament (the quarterfinals).
South Korea's futsal ranked second in the 1999 tournament, the first tournament, and third and fourth in the 2001 and 2002 tournaments, respectively, but its performance has fallen sharply since the mid-2000s.
South Korea is also ranked 57th in the FIFA futsal rankings, ranking only 15th in Asia. In Group A, it was the lowest in the group after Indonesia (24th), Iraq (37th), and Kyrgyzstan (43rd).
South Korea, which lost heavily to Indonesia 0-5 in the first game, once made a 2-1 comeback in the second game against Iraq, but lost two goals at the end of the game and suffered an upset loss. The last Kyrgyzstan match was played with both teams' elimination early, but they lost 2-3 and failed to win.
Indonesia and Iraq in Group A and Thailand and Vietnam in Group B each confirmed their advance to the quarterfinals. In Group C, which has not yet played its final group match, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will compete for one remaining berth, with Japan confirming its advance to the quarterfinals tournament early with two consecutive wins. In Group C, Afghanistan and Iran confirmed their advance to the quarterfinals regardless of the final result.
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). Fernandez's contract is until this tournament.
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*This content was translated by AI.
