Seoul: South Korea will announce their FIFA World Cup squad in the capital city on May 16. The Korea Football Association (KFA) said Thursday head coach Hong Myung-bo will do the honors at 4 p.m. on May 16 at KT Gwanghwamun West Building in central Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the announcement will be streamed live on the media wall outside the building, called "KT square," and a K-pop performance will celebrate the occasion after Hong's press conference. The KFA said it will schedule other offline events involving football fans to mark the occasion.

South Korea will play in Group A against Mexico, one of the three co-hosts, Czechia, and South Africa. Hong's team will depart for Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 18 to set up a pre-World Cup training camp there, as they hope to get the players acclimated early to competing in the high altitude. Two of South Korea's three matches in the group stage will be played in Guadalajara, Mexico, about 1,500 meters above sea level.

This will be South Korea's 11th consecutive World Cup appearance. Their first match is June 11 against Czechia, followed by Mexico on June 18 and South Africa on June 24. The tournament has expanded from 32 nations to 48 nations this time, with the United States and Canada also staging matches. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups will earn automatic berths in the knockout stage, to be joined by the eight best third-place teams.