Come già anticipato quasi un anno e mezzo fa, è stata ufficializzata l’adesione dell’United Korean Football Association in Japan (UKFAJ) nel CONIFA, la Confederation of Independent Football Associations.

Pur confermando la nostra contrarietà a questa scelta, seguiremo come promesso l’andamento della nuova Associazione nelle manifestazioni, asiatiche e mondiali, del CONIFA. Una “sfida” in più per il nostro blog.

Di seguito riportiamo la notizia tratta dal sito del CONIFA

Again CONIFA grew substantially during the last weeks. A total of 5 (!) new members joined us recently:

The Asian Federations of Ryukyu, Tibet, United Koreans in Japan and Uyghur are now new full members of CONIFA and are very much looking forward to meet our other teams on the football ground soon!

In Europe Transnistria joined us and will, after 25 years of independence, finally enter the international football stage!

We are very proud and happy that more and more teams express their will to be affiliated with CONIFA. The interest of the teams surely is a great sign of our success and is a huge compliment for our work.

We will keep doing our best to serve our growing number of members in the very best and we are very much looking forward to see our new members playing their initial matches hopefully soon!

Both North and South Koreans, are part of this often discriminated diaspora minority. Most Koreans in Japan came to Japan in the early 20st century and are now living in Japan often in their 3rd or 4th generation. The approximately 900.000 “Zainichis” where, however, never assimilated, but are still considered “foreigners” in Japan.

Many Koreans in Japan speak a language that is neither South nor Northern Korean, but is often referred to as “Zainichi Korean”.

The United Korean Football Association in Japan (UKFAJ) was founded 2015 and is lead by Mr Chong Gyong Ri. The team is a “spin off” of the club “FC Korea”, that plays in the Japanese football league system and consists of only Korean players. Due to the fact that all players belong to the Korean minority in Japan, the club is not allowed to go further up in the League pyramid and thus is looking for a new challenge, which it found in CONIFA.

Si è conclusa l’edizione 2015 della Kanto Soccer League, il campionato regionale giapponese in cui milita l’FC Korea. I coreani hanno chiuso a metà classifica, al quinto posto.
Questi i risultati del girone di ritorno:

1 g – 28/06/2015 FC Korea – Tonan Maebashi 0-2
2 g – 05/07/2015 Fc Korea – Vertfee TAKAHARA NASU 2-0
3 g – 11/07/2015 FC Korea – Tsukuba Football Club 3-0
4 g – 25/07/2015 FC Korea – VONDS Ichihara FC 1-0
5 g – 07/08/2015 FC Korea – Tokyo23 Football Club 1-0
6 g – 9/08/2015 FC Korea – Ryutsu Keizai University FC 3-2
7 g – 05/09/2015 FC Korea – Saitama sc 3-1
8 g – 13/09/2015 FC Korea – Urayasu Soccer Club 0-2
9 g – 20/09/2015 FC Korea – Hitachi Building System S.C. 2-1

Classifica finale
1-Urayasu Soccer Club 42 pt
2-VONDS Ichihara FC 38 pt
3-Tsukuba Football Club 36 pt
4-Tokyo23 Football Club 32 pt
5-FC Korea 31 pt
6-Vertfee TAKAHARA NASU 20 pt
7-Ryutsu Keizai University FC 17 pt
8-Tonan Maebashi 16 pt
9-Saitama SC 13 pt
10-Hitachi Building System S.C. 12 pt

Si è concluso il girone d’andata della Kanto Soccer League, divisione regionale giapponese, in cui gioca l’FC Korea, la squadra di riferimento della comunità coreana del paese nipponico. Questi i risultati:
1 g – 4/4/2015 FC Korea – Tonan Maebashi 1-0
2 g – 12/4/2015 Fc Korea – Vertfee TAKAHARA NASU 0-3
3 g – 19/4/2015 FC Korea – Tsukuba Football Club 0-2
4 g – 25/4/2015 FC Korea – VONDS Ichihara FC 0-1
5 g – 3/5/2015 FC Korea – Tokyo23 Football Club 2-2
6 g – 9/5/2015 FC Korea – Ryutsu Keizai University FC 2-1
7 g – 17/5/2015 FC Korea – Saitama sc 1-0
8 g – 23/5/2015 FC Korea – Urayasu Soccer Club 1-0
9 g – 31/5/2015 FC Korea – Hitachi Building System S.C. 2-1

Classifica
1-VONDS Ichihara FC 20 pt
2-Urayasu Soccer Club 17 pt
3-FC Korea 16 pt
4-Tsukuba Football Club 15 pt
5-Tokyo23 Football Club 15 pt
6-Vertfee TAKAHARA NASU 10 pt
7-Tonan Maebashi 9 pt
8-Saitama sc 9 pt
9-Ryutsu Keizai University FC 8 pt
10-Hitachi Building System S.C. 6 pt

Giunge notizia che l’FC Korea rappresenterà i coreani in Giappone (i Zainichi) presso il ConIFA, la Confederation of Independent Football Associations, la più accreditata organizzazione calcistica internazionale per le nazioni non riconosciute.
Una notizia, seppur non ancora ufficiale, che ci coglie un po di sorpresa per diversi motivi:
1-i coreani in Giappone non sono una nazione, ma un’etnia
2-i coreani in Giappone sono già rappresentati ufficialmente da ben due nazionali (nord e sud Corea), visto che sono prevalentemente cittadini coreani
3-i coreani in Giappone hanno già una squadra che gioca nel campioanto della prefettura di Kanto, l’FC Korea
4-le squadre juniores dei coreani in Giappone hanno già rappresentato la RPD Corea in recenti manifestazioni internazionali, come l’EAFF Cup under-18.

Nonostante la nostra contrarietà, seguiremo comunque con il consueto trasporto eventuali partecipazioni dell’FC Korea a manifestazioni ConIFA.