South Korea's national football team has slipped from 25th to 28th in the FIFA rankings following its defeat to South Africa at the 2026 World Cup hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Plunge to 28th: Fourth in AFC
According to the FIFA rankings updated Tuesday, South Korea's score was cut by 33.03 points as a result of the defeat, leaving the team with 1,558.72 points. The ranking placed Korea fourth among Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations, behind Japan (16th), Iran (21st) and Australia (25th).
Korea fell 0-1 to South Africa in the final Group A match of the 2026 World Cup at Monterrey Stadium in Mexico that day. The team delivered a frustrating performance, failing to register a single notable shot on target. Had South Africa's finishing not been poor, the result could have been a heavy defeat.
With 1 win and 2 losses (three points), Korea finished third in Group A, leaving its advancement to the Round of 32 dependent on the results of the remaining nine groups. To reach the knockout stage, a team must rank among the top eight of the 12 third-place teams. So far, among the third-place finishers in Groups A through C that have completed their group stage schedules, Korea sits second behind Bosnia and Herzegovina (four points).
South Africa, which overtook Korea to reach the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in its history, rose six places to 54th in the FIFA rankings. Mexico, which beat the Czech Republic 3-0 to keep Korea's elimination from being confirmed for now, entered the top 10 at 10th.
A Replica of the Algeria Match 12 Years Ago: Beaten by Africa Again
This defeat carries a heavy shock in that it recalls the match against Algeria at the 2014 Brazil World Cup 12 years ago.
At the time, Korea was drawn into Group H with Belgium, Russia and Algeria. The group was widely assessed as the most manageable ever, and Algeria, classified as the weakest team in the group, was set as a target for a win. However, Korea lost 2-4 to Algeria in the second group stage match and then fell 0-1 to Belgium in the final match, finishing the tournament fourth in the group with one draw and two losses. Algeria advanced to the Round of 16 for the first time in its history as runner-up in the group.
This year, the flow was a replica. Mexico was tipped as the favorite to top Group A, and the prevailing view was that Korea would compete with the Czech Republic for second place. After a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the opening match, an atmosphere even formed in which advancement to the Round of 32 was taken for granted. However, Korea was unexpectedly tripped up by South Africa, and South Africa, which had been picked as the weakest team in the group before the tournament, leaped to runner-up like Algeria in 2014 and clinched its first-ever knockout stage berth.
Meanwhile, the post-match press conference even included the question, "Was there a group food poisoning incident or some unavoidable factor before the match?" In response, manager Hong Myung-bo said, "It is true that we played our worst match of the three World Cup games," while adding, "There was nothing of that sort in the team at all. I don't even want to attribute the reason to that."
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