Sports Nadeshiko Japan to play in Pyongyang in February

[thomas]

Today, the Asian Football Confederation announced that the Japan women's soccer team will play their first match of the last stage of the 2024 Paris Olympics Asian qualifiers against North Korea at Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang on 24 February. This will be the first time Japan's women's team competes in North Korea.

Nadeshiko Japan, aiming to qualify for their second straight Olympics, will host the return fixture against North Korea at Tokyo's National Stadium on Feb. 28. It will mark the first visit to Japan by athletes from North Korea since 2017. Japan's men's national team is also scheduled to play Asian World Cup qualifiers at home and away to North Korea in March. North Korea skipped the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 after imposing strict border controls amid the coronavirus pandemic. The country did not return to international sporting competition until the Asian Games in September and October this year in Hangzhou, China.

In reaction to North Korea's missile tests and other actions, Japan has imposed a strict entry ban on North Koreans. Still, a government official recently hinted that football games would be exempted shortly.

Football: Nadeshiko Japan to play North Korea in Pyongyang on Feb. 24

The Japanese women's national team will open the third and final round of Asian qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics away to North Korea at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Stadium on Feb. 24, the Asian Football Confederation confirms.

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