Klinsmann's Team to Face Wales in September Friendly... First European A Match in 5 Years 6 Months

'Kickoff' at Cardiff City Stadium on September 7
Also scouting non-European teams

The South Korean national football team, led by coach J?rgen Klinsmann, will embark on a European tour during the September A-match (international match) period to face Wales.

The Korea Football Association announced on the 29th, "We have agreed with the Football Association of Wales to hold a friendly match against the Wales national team on September 7." The venue will be Cardiff City Stadium in Wales, and the match time is yet to be determined.

The new head coach of our national soccer team, J?rgen Klinsmann.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This will be the first away match against a European team for the national team in five years and six months, since the away matches against Northern Ireland and Poland in March 2018.

The second A-match opponent besides Wales has not yet been decided. The association stated, "Since most European teams will be playing qualifiers for the UEFA European Championship (Euro 2024) during this period, we are looking for teams outside Europe."

This will be the first time South Korea plays an A-match against Wales. According to the FIFA world rankings, Wales is ranked 26th, just one spot above South Korea at 27th. Wales participated in the Qatar World Cup last year for the first time in 64 years but performed poorly in the group stage with one draw and two losses, failing to advance to the round of 16. However, they have recently performed well in the European Championship, reaching the semifinals in Euro 2016 and the round of 16 in Euro 2020 held in 2021.

World-renowned football players such as Ryan Giggs, who played alongside Park Ji-sung at Manchester United (Man Utd, England) during their active careers, and Gareth Bale from Real Madrid (Spain) have worn the Wales national team jersey. Currently active players include key figures like Ben Davies (Tottenham), who is familiar to domestic fans as a teammate of Son Heung-min, and Aaron Ramsey (Nice).