South Korean race claims and Swedish 'spying' dominates World Cup 2018 build-up in Nizhny Novgorod

He said all but star player Son Heung-min and captain Ki Sung-yueng were given different shirts in games against Bolivia and Senegal in Austria earlier this month to outwit anyone checking up on his team.

The astonishing claim came just 24 hours before his side open their World Cup campaign against Sweden, a seemingly tame encounter which has been spiced up by claims of spying as well as the Korean coach’s shirt subterfuge.

In his press conference, Swedish coach Janne Andersson was forced to apologise after it was claimed one of his scouts had been caught spying on Monday’s opponents at a closed training session in Austria.

But the claim by his Korean opposite number added an extra layer of intrigue to the group F clash.

“All of the others played in numbers a little bit confusing, that’s why we switched the numbers,” Shin Tae-yong told reporters.