The bitter reality confirmed at the East Asian Cup that Japan is the best of the best...Far-right controversial companies also appeared on board A
Jul 14, 2025
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This is a bitter reaction from the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship site.
The South Korean national football team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play the final match of the 2025 EAFF E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) against Japan at 7:24 p.m. on the 15th at Yongin Mir Stadium in Gyeonggi Province. South Korea beat China (3-0) and Hong Kong (2-0) for the second straight win. Japan also defeated Hong Kong (6:1) and China (2:0) in a row. The winning team will be decided according to the result of the match. South Korea is aiming for its first summit in six years since 2019. Ahead of the final match, Hong said, "As always, the last match against Japan was important. It's still the same now. As a result, you have to win to win. I'll focus on winning. Players' conditions are not bad either. I'll prepare well for the rest of the game."
Kick-off is at 7:24 p.m. There is a reason. This competition is organized by EAFF. Most of the EAFF sponsors are Japanese companies. This is why the match will be held at 7:24 p.m. in line with the situation of Japanese broadcasters even though it is a Korea-Japan match in Korea. An official from A said "The host broadcaster of this competition is Japan's Fuji TV. Fuji Television has sold broadcasting rights to each country. The competition will be held in Korea, but the reason why the kickoff was decided in accordance with the situation of Japanese broadcasters was explained.
There is also controversy. On the A board of this competition, there is also the logo of Japan's APA Hotel. The Apa Hotel has caused far-right controversy in the past. Ahead of the 2017 Sapporo Asian Games, the Apa Hotel was controversial for placing a booklet containing the denial and denigration of forced mobilization of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery and denial of the Nanjing Massacre. At that time, the Korean Sports Council asked the organizing committee to move the accommodation of the South Korean team at the Sapporo Winter Asian Games from the original Apa Hotel to another hotel.
An official from B said "It's a money game after all. According to EAFF sponsors, the proportion of Japanese companies is overwhelmingly high. The logo on board A is the reality. There are few Korean companies. Unfortunately, this is the reality. Korea does not have much sponsorship of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as well as EAFF. An official C said "Japan is the 'of' of this competition."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
