South Korea women threaten Asian Cup boycott

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s women’s national football team threatened to boycott matches ahead of March’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup, citing “discriminatory conditions” they say were provided by the Korea Football Association, according to documents revealed Tuesday.

The Korea Professional Footballers’ Association released a joint statement it said was sent with national team players to the KFA in September last year, complaining of “poor conditions” while on national team duty.

In the statement, the players said they faced grueling long journeys on buses and economy-class flights, and were forced to stay in “inadequate” accommodation far from training grounds.

The players also said they were required to personally pay for items including airport transfers and training kit.

The statement, dated Sept. 26, said the players would boycott games and “suspend participation in all training related to the upcoming 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup” if the KFA did not respond by Oct. 17.

A KFA official told AFP on Tuesday that they had been “internally reviewing step-by-step improvements and discussing the issue internally since we received the statement”.

The 12-team Women’s Asian Cup will be held in Australia from March 1–21.

South Korea have been drawn in a first-round group with Australia, Iran and the Philippines.

The players’ statement said that “for many years, women’s national team players have silently endured poor and unreasonable conditions, sustained solely by their pride as ‘national representatives’”.

It said there were “clear and undeniable differences” from the conditions enjoyed by the men’s national team.