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NK's football club brushes off joint cheering squad questions, keeps focus on Suwon semifinal
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By
Park Ji-won
Published
May 19, 2026 1:46 pm
KST
Updated
May 19, 2026 1:50 pm
KST
Ri Yu-il, left, head coach of Naegohyang Women’s FC, speaks during a press conference at Suwon Sports Complex, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps
The coach of the North Korean women's football club deflected questions regarding an allegedly 3,000-strong inter-Korean joint cheering squad, saying the matter is of no concern to his players.
“I am not sure whether similar questions about the supporters will be asked, but we are entirely here for the match. We will focus on the upcoming matches. It is not something that a coach or players should take into consideration,” Ri Yu-il, head coach of Naegohyang Women’s FC, said Tuesday during a press conference.
Ri and the club members arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a semi-final match against South Korea's Suwon FC Women for the AFC Women's Champions League semifinals, slated for Wednesday evening.
Captain and striker Kim Kyoung-yong echoed the sentiment, saying the squad is in great shape ahead of the match.
“As the team captain and an attacker, I will do my best,” Kim said. “We will do our utmost to live up to the faith and expectations of people in our country, our parents and our brothers back home.”
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