KUALA LUMPUR: The final of an Asian club tournament has been moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai, football officials said on Tuesday, a week after North and South Korea played out a surreal World Cup qualifier in an empty stadium.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said it had been “compelled” to shift the November 2 AFC Cup match between North Korea’s 4.25 SC and Al Ahed from Lebanon to a “neutral venue” due to logistical and other issues.
Its statement did not mention the inter-Korean showdown in Pyongyang but
said that commercial partners had warned of challenges in broadcasting the highly anticipated final of Asia’s second-tier continental competition.
Last week’s match—a historic encounter between two countries still technically at war—took place with no live broadcast and no foreign media in attendance, and with FIFA president Gianni Infantino one of just a handful of spectators.Last week’s debacle raised doubts over the prospects for further North-South sporting co-operation, once a driver of nuclear diplomacy.
