KUALA LUMPUR: The national football team's 2019 Asian Cup qualifier against North Korea in Pyongyang on Oct 5 has been postponed.
This follows the travel ban against the East Asian country issued by Wisma Putra.
The Football Association of Malaysia has informed the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that the national team would not be able to fulfill the fixture in light of the latest development.
A new date for the Group B qualifying fixture, which has now been postponed three times due to tensions in Northeast Asia, will be decided later.
"The AFC has postponed the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Final Qualifying Round Group B match between DPR Korea and Malaysia, which was scheduled to be played in Pyongyang on October 5, 2017," AFC said in a statement on Thursday.
"The AFC will now refer the matter to the appropriate committees to decide on the future status of this match."
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry issued a directive banning all Malaysians from travelling to North Korea.
"This decision is taken in view of the escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula and related developments arising from missile tests," it said.
"The travel ban will be reviewed once the situation has returned to normal."
National players had been due to check into camp in Johor Baru on Saturday before leaving for Pyongyang via Singapore and Beijing on Tuesday.
However, the national team will now remain in Johor Baru until the following week before travelling to Hong Kong for another Group B qualifying match on Oct 10.