Korea to face off countries advancing into UEFA Euro 2016 final

The Korean national soccer team led by Coach Uli Stielike will hold two exhibition matches with European teams that are ranked within 20th in the FIFA rankings.

“The Korean national soccer team will hold exhibition matches with two countries that are ranked within 20th in the FIFA rankings among the countries that advanced to the European Championship 2016 (Euro 2016) on A-match Days, which will come between May 30 to June 17. We are holding final negotiations with about four to five countries," the Korea Football Association said. “If the rival teams are revealed, Korea could lose advantage in negotiations, and we cannot announce countries that we are currently negotiating. We will finalize and announce the rival teams by next month.”

The exhibition matches will take place in Europe since the matches will happen just several days before the UEFA Euro final tournament, which opens on June 10. “We are negotiating over specific conditions since we have to give up income from admission tickets," a KFA source said. "We are demanding the broadcast right in return for handing over the fees for the matches.”

According to KFA, rival teams for the exhibition matches could be Belgium (ranked first), Spain (third), Germany (fourth), Portugal (seventh), England (ninth), Austria (10th) Switzerland (12th), Italy (15th), Romania (16th), Wales (17th), Croatia (18th), Hungary (19th) and Turkey (20th).

Earlier, after finishing an exhibition match with Jamaica in October last year, Coach Stielike said, “It is necessary that Korea faces off strong teams in Europe even if Korea loses.” KFA held negotiations with the Netherlands (14th) and Scotland (46th), which failed to advance into the Euro 2016 final, but their talks collapsed due to high fees for a match and other factors.

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