The K League 1 Jeju United-Pohang Steelers’ ‘2023 Hana OneQ FA Cup’ semifinal match has been postponed.
The Korea Football Association announced on September 9, “The FA Cup semifinal match between Jeju and Pohang, which was scheduled to be held at the Jeju World Cup Stadium, has been postponed. Due to the northward movement of typhoon ‘Kanun’, the match supervisor’s judgment is that there is a risk of safety accidents for players and spectators if the match is forced.”
With the typhoon already forecast to be heading north, home team Jeju decided to go ahead with the match after discussing it with the match supervisor at 5:30 p.m., two hours before kickoff. However, the postponement was reportedly changed an hour later when Jeju Island sent a letter to the club stating that ‘forcing the FA Cup to go ahead would promote a sense of insecurity.
Previously, the FA Cup semifinal between Jeonbuk Hyundai and Incheon United, which was scheduled to be held at Jeonju World Cup Stadium on the same day (Sept. 9), was finally postponed in the aftermath of a K-pop concert, the farewell ceremony for the 2023 Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree. The venue for the concert was changed from Jeonju World Cup Stadium to Seoul World Cup Stadium shortly after the federation’s decision to postpone the match was communicated to both clubs on July 7, but Incheon’s team had already withdrawn from Jeonju, making it difficult to reverse the move.
The dates for the postponed Jeju-Pohang and Jeonbuk-Incheon FA Cup semifinals will be coordinated by the association and the respective clubs and announced later. “Instead of the association proposing a specific date, we decided to prioritize the date that the clubs came up with through consensus,” an association official said, adding, “We will arrange it so that it does not interfere with the clubs’ regular K League play as much as possible.” 메이저놀이터
However, more than the Jeonbuk-Incheon match, the aftermath of the postponement of the Jeju-Pohang match is not expected to be small. Pohang said, “The postponement was caused by an official letter from Jeju Island. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a letter requesting cancellation an hour before a game.” “It’s not that there was no typhoon forecast, but we had a day or two to prepare. The loss of our players, who joined the team on the 7th, and the fans who came to the stadium on that day is also huge,” the team strongly criticized.