The third East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) Championship will be held in China in February 2008.

The federation recently reached the decision after a meeting of its executive committee in Tokyo.

The EAFF championship, which was originally set for next year, was postponed until 2008 as the Asian Football Confederation’s Asian Cup was pushed ahead one year to avoid a scheduling conflict with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

South Korea, China and Japan will face one finalist out of six countries including North Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which will hold preliminary games in June next year in Macao.

In the women’s EAFF championship, North Korea, China and Japan will automatically advance to the finals based on their FIFA rankings.

South Korea needs to win the top spot to advance to the finals in matches against Taiwan, Guam and Hong Kong slated for next July in Guam.