Tour of B. P. K. of Korea
　A Japanese soccer team made its first visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in May of this year. The Narashino Junior Team, which is composed principally of young alumni and boys of the Narashino High School, lost all three of their friendly games against the local High School teams in Pyongyang and Wonsan. They were both surprised and impressed by the high standard of junior football in the northern part of the Korean peninsula.

　Coventry City loses a game
　Coventry City F.C. of England lost one of its three games against an All Japan selection, in Tokyo on June 6th, by one goal to nil. It is the first time that a visiting English league club has lost to the local opposition. The other two games, however, were won by the Coventry team.

　Foreign Coach invited
　 The Yomiuri Soccer Club which, at present, is in the Second Division of the Japanese League, has engaged the services of a professional coach from West Germany. Mr. Franz Van Balkom, a former top class player in Holland and trainer of a West German amateur team, signed a two-year contract with the Japanese club commencing June of this year.

　CHINA-the hottest problem now
　It seems certain that the Football Association of the People's Republic of China will gain membership of F.I.F.A., thus displacing the F.A. of the Republic of China in Taiwan, in the very near future. The many national associations of Asia are rapidly turning to support the F.A. in Peking instead of that of Taipei, in international football circles.
　Although the F.A. of Peking is not a member of the Asian Football Confederation, it is said that one important South East Asian member association of the A.F.C. had sounded out the opinions of certain other countries on the subject of Peking's possible admission to international football organisations.
　The Japanese Football Association reacted in a very positive manner. Its Executive Committee made a decision on the matter at a recent 'closed-door' meeting, and although no official announcement has yet been made authoritative sources claim that, if the F. A. in Peking wants to be a member of F. I. F. A., the Japanese Association will recognise it as the sole representative of China as a whole.
　This has resulted in part from Nixon's visit to China, Also, since Peking took its seat in the United Nation last year, Malaysia and several other Asian countries have been taking steps to improve relations with mainland China; and football, the most popular sport in Asia, has been considered by them to be one of the best ways to pro-mote friendly relations amongst the peoples of those countries.
　The Malaysian Football Association has expressed its hope of sending its national team to Peking in the near future, and some Japanese League clubs are asking about the possibility of contract with main-land China.
　In China, at present, the sports authorities are recommending the promotion of nine different sports which they consider useful to the development of the people's physical abilities. These are: table tennis, basketball, soccer, volley ball, badminton, gymnastics, track and field athletics, swimming and the Chinese traditional art of fighting. However, along with table tennis, soccer is still the most popular sport in there, always attracting capacity crowds in all parts of China. With increased opportunity of international competition it is sure to boom in this huge country of 800,000,000 people.

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