South Korea’s national football team has launched preparations for the upcoming regional football tournament the East Asian Cup, which is slated to kick off on Saturday in Wuhan, China.

Sixteen players of the 23-member team arrived first on Monday for training at the National Football Center (NFC) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The other seven players based in teams abroad will join in the coming days.

The team led by coach Uli Stielike will depart for China on Friday after training for four days at home.

The two Koreas, China and Japan will compete in the East Asian Cup from August 1 to 9.