Women's soccer 'controversy over business class and Prada' 'Early confirmed' in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup for the second consecutive time

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean women's national soccer team, which competed in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup, confirmed its advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament early.

South Korea, led by head coach Shin Sang-woo, defeated the Philippines 3-0 with consecutive goals by Jeon Yu-kyung (MoldeFK), Park Soo-jung (AC Milan) and Moon Eun-joo (Hwacheon KSPO) in the second Group A match of the tournament at Gold Coast Stadium on Australia's Gold Coast on the 5th (Korea time).

South Korea, which also beat Iran 3-0 earlier, won its second consecutive group match and accumulated six points (+6 goal difference). In the other Group A match that followed, South Korea and Australia were confirmed early to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament as Australia defeated Iran 4-0 and also recorded six points (+5 goal difference).

This tournament will be divided into three groups of four teams, and the top two teams with good performance among the first and second places in each group and the third place in the three groups will advance to the quarterfinals tournament. In addition to South Korea and Australia, the Philippines and Iran have both won zero points with two consecutive losses. Regardless of the final result, South Korea and Australia secured second place side by side.

It is the second consecutive time that Korean women's soccer has reached the Asian Cup tournament since the 2022 Indian tournament. South Korea advanced to the semifinals in the 2014 tournament, which was a semifinal tournament system, but failed to advance to the tournament as third place in the group in the 2018 tournament, behind Australia and Japan.

However, South Korea succeeded in advancing to the finals for the first time in history at the 2022 tournament, which expanded to the quarterfinals, and passed the group stage in this tournament, making it to the quarterfinals for the second consecutive Asian Cup.

South Korea's first or second place will be determined depending on the result of the final match against Australia on the 8th. The first place in Group A meets the third place in Group B/C, and the second place in Group A meets the second place in Group B in the quarterfinals, respectively. The possibility of advancing to the semifinals increases as they meet the third place in another group only when they reach the top of Group A, but they can meet Asia's strongest Japan in the semifinals. On the contrary, if they reach the quarterfinals as second place in Group A, they will likely face North Korea or China one after another in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

In this tournament, two playoff victories between the semifinals and the teams that have been eliminated from the quarterfinals will qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil next year. The top six teams in this tournament will compete in the World Cup finals. If South Korea succeeds in advancing to the finals of the Women's World Cup in Brazil, it will be its fourth consecutive advancement following the 2015 tournament.

Meanwhile, the women's national soccer team recently demanded the same business seats as the men's national team when it goes overseas, and if it does not comply, it will be boycotted such as the Asian Cup. The Korea Football Association eventually promised to provide business seats for the women's national team only for major international competitions, but veteran Cho So-hyun (37, Halifax tights) later shared a photo of the Chinese national team receiving the luxury brand Prada uniform on social media and wrote, "Doesn't Korea have this?" causing another controversy. Cho So-hyun, however, has not been on the national team since June 2024, including this tournament.

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*This content was translated by AI.