Ri Kum-suk ( ko, 리금숙; or ; born 16 August 1978) is a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for the 4.25 Sports Club. She plays a key role not only for her club, but also for national teams in the

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

. She is the highest goalscorer for North Korea with 40 goals and the most prolific female footballer ever from North Korea with 165 goals.

Club career

Ri Kum-suk began her international career at the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

at age 20. She played as a midfielder during three matches, supporting their young and talented striker

Jin Pyol-hui Jin Pyol-hui (born 19 August 1980,) is a North Korean former women's international footballer who played as a forward. She was a member of the North Korea women's national football team. She was part of the team at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cu ...

. In 4 years, the PRK Women's National Team qualified for the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September 20 to October 12, 2003, at s ...

and Ri teamed again with her friend Jin. In a winning match 3-0 over

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

she took 5 shots and 2 shots on goal. Even though, her team could not proceed to the quarterfinals, she played very well in last two games against Sweden and United States, with 6 Shots and 1 SOG. The

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

was her best tournament. The team qualified for the finals by taking 3rd place in

2006 AFC Women's Championship The 2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup was a women's football tournament for women's national teams from countries affiliated to the Asian Football Confederation. It was the 15th installment of the AFC Women's Asian Cup. Unlike the previous tournament w ...

due to referee judgement during the game against China. Her team belonged to Group B with United States, Sweden and

. At their first game, against USA, and with the injury of key

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Ho Sun-hui Ho Sun-hui (born 5 March 1980) is a female North Korean former football midfielder and now a referee. She was part of the North Korea women's national football team at the 2008 Summer Olympics. On club level she played for Amrokkang. Interna ...

at 10 minutes in the first half, they conceded a goal 50 minutes, but scored at 58 and 62 minutes. At 69 minutes the USA scored again. Ri scored in the next game against

with a head shot and the team played well enough against Sweden to get out of the group stage. The most game she showed her strike and dribble skill was against

China PR China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in the 15th Doha Asian Games, when the two teams tied after 90 minutes. Ri Kum-suk scored a goal in the 2nd extra time, by striking a powerful shot with her left foot. Ri pulled a hat-trick sending DPRK into the final of the AFC Women's Asian Cup after they defeated Australia 3–0 at Thong Nat Stadium in the 2007 AFC Women's Asian Cup. Ri also played for DPRK at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. She is the captain of the national team. Recently she retired to start a coaching career. She married Pak Chung Hyok(student of Kim Hyong Jik University Education), coach of the women's football team of the Jebi Sports Team, in November 2008, and gave birth to a son.

International goals

References

1978 births Living people Women's association football forwards North Korean women's footballers Sportspeople from Pyongyang 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of North Korea FIFA Century Club Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for North Korea Asian Games silver medalists for North Korea People's Athletes North Korea women's international footballers Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games {{NorthKorea-women-footy-bio-stub