‘They have decided to stop their silence’: South Korea threaten to boycott Asian Cup in Australia

The South Korea women’s team has threatened to boycott the 2026 Asian Cup in Australia in March due to what players claim are “harsh and unreasonable conditions” imposed by their national federation.

Members of the South Korea team – who knocked the Matildas out of the last Women’s Asian Cup in 2022 – sent a statement to the Korea Football Association (KFA) in September, but its contents were only made public by the Korea Professional Footballers Association (the player-led advocacy group) on Tuesday after parts of it were leaked to local media.

The document included a list of demands, starting with a request to provide adequate transportation, accommodation and uniforms for the women’s team, instead of requiring players to pay themselves.

“The women’s national team players have been working tirelessly for a long time in harsh and unreasonable conditions,” the statement read. “Nevertheless, some still dismiss the demand for equal treatment with the men’s national team as unreasonable, or disparage their legitimate demands based on their performance.”

The statement, signed on September 26, requested a response from the federation by October 17.

“If no statement is made by this deadline, the women’s national team players who signed this statement will not participate in any activities related to the upcoming 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup,” it read.

Australia are in the same group as South Korea and they are scheduled to play in the final game of the group stage at Stadium Australia in Sydney on March 8.

On Wednesday, Matildas player Clare Wheeler said that while she was not aware of the South Korean team’s statement, it was sad to hear.

“It’s not nice to hear that any team’s having to potentially boycott games or training in order to get better conditions, and I hope with them and their federation that they can come to a better agreement to improve their conditions,” she said.

South Korea are ranked 21 in the world and in the 2022 Women’s Asian Cup beat Australia 1-0 in the quarter-finals. The winning goal was scored by Ji So-Yun in the 87th minute. She is the only player mentioned by name in the team’s statement from September. The list of signatories was not made public.

“Accordingly, veteran players, including Ji So-yun, who has played for the women’s national team for a long time and knows the reality of Korean women’s soccer better than anyone else, have decided to stop their silence and stand at the centre of change,” the statement reads.

The federation responded to the players’ association on the day of the deadline in October and some officials recently met with Ji. But the association said that instead of progress through official dialogue, rumours about the statement were leaked to the press, including that it featured demands from Los Angeles FC player Son Heung-min for business class plane tickets.