East Asian soccer championships to kick off on Sunday
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-29 21:13

Men and women national football teams from China, the DPR Korea, Japan and South Korea are to compete for two regional championships from Sunday in South Korea.

According to South Korean Yonhap News Agency, the men soccer national squads from the four countries will attend the biennial tournament, the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) Championship to be held in three central cities of South Korea from July 31 to August 7.

The winners will be given prizes of 500,000 US dollars in total and the runners-up will be awarded 300,000 dollars, said Yonhap.

In Sunday's opening of the tournament, South Korea is to meet China and the DPR Korea will face Japan. Both of the games will take place at Daejeon World Cup Stadium, 164 kilometers south of Seoul.

South Korean coach Jo Bonfrere will use the tournament as a test stage for domestic league players who are trying to win spots on the team for next year's World Cup finals.

But new star Park Chu-young will apparently to miss the opener in front of a home crowd because of a right toe injury.

Moreover, the defending champions South Korean men football team seem to be at a disadvantage due to the absence of Europe-based attackers, such as Park Ji-sung of Manchester United, Seol Ki-hyeon of Wolverhampton, Cha Du-ri of Frankfurt FC and Lee Young-pyo of PSV Eindhoven.

A women's tournament, the EAFF's Women's Cup 2005, will also be held for the first time, with the national squads from the same four countries taking part.

The Chinese team arrived at Incheon International Airport on Friday morning boarding CA123 flight. The Japanese team also reached South Korea in the same day.

The squad of the DPR Korea had already arrived South Korea on Tuesday.

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