Japan's national women's football team may play the first of their two final Olympic qualifying games against North Korea in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Japan Football Association executive Norio Sasaki revealed Tuesday.
Saturday's first game of the home-and-away fixture to decide one of Asia's two berths in the 2024 Paris Olympic women's tournament was originally to be held at Kim Il Sung Stadium in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang.
Sasaki, the chairperson of the JFA women's committee, informed reporters in Chiba, east of Tokyo, that a move is underway to hold the game in Saudi Arabia before Nadeshiko Japan host their home leg at Tokyo's National Stadium four days later.
The JFA had appealed to the Asian Football Confederation to have the first leg at a neutral venue, citing the scarcity of flights between Japan and Pyongyang, delays in working with the North Korean hosts and a lack of match-operations transparency.
