Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

North Korea national football team The North Korea national football team (Munhwaŏ ko, 조선민주주의인민공화국 국가종합팀, recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) represents North Korea in men's international football and it is controlled by the DPR Korea Football As ...

North Korea women's national football team The Democratic People's Republic of Korea women's national football team (Munhwaŏ Korean: 조선민주주의인민공화국 녀자 국가종합팀, recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) represents North Korea in international women's football. No ...

DPR Korea League The DPR Korea Football League (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국 축구 리그) is North Korea's association football league. It has a first division DPR Korea Premier Football League, a second division DPR Korea Football League ...

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

DPR Korea League The DPR Korea Football League (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국 축구 리그) is North Korea's association football league. It has a first division DPR Korea Premier Football League, a second division DPR Korea Football League ...

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly ...

DPR Korea League The DPR Korea Football League (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국 축구 리그) is North Korea's association football league. It has a first division DPR Korea Premier Football League, a second division DPR Korea Football League ...

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying ...

Republican Championship DPR Korea Championship (Democratic People's Republic of Korea Championship, Chosŏn'gŭl: 공화국선수권대회; Hanja: 共和國選手權大會) is a multi-sport event in North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Rep ...

Paektusan Prize The Football at the Paektusan Prize Sports Games is an annual association football men's competition in Multi-sport event - Paektusan Prize Sports Games in North Korea, organised by the DPR Korea Football Association. Results Performance ...

North Korea national football team The North Korea national football team (Munhwaŏ ko, 조선민주주의인민공화국 국가종합팀, recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) represents North Korea in men's international football and it is controlled by the DPR Korea Football As ...

Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan,
" ''

-affiliated Koreans born in Japan. In 1966, the team managed to make up for a 3–0 loss to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in the first match of the group stages to qualify for the next round in second. In the group stage of the

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

, North Korea surprisingly beat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

1–0 in the group stage to clinch the second place, thus qualifying for the quarter-finals. Whilst there, Korea DPR lost 5–3 to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

thanks to four goals from

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

, after being 3–0 up on 25 minutes. In 2010, the North Korea team failed to get past the group stages, finishing bottom of the group and losing all three matches. Subsequently, the team also failed to qualify for the 2014 or 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Women

Unlike the men's team, the women's squad consists entirely of

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

-born Koreans. It is much more successful than its male counterpart, reaching the quarter-finals of the

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 bod ...

in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

and winning 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 ...

in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. They were also disqualified for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

, due to using illegal drugs. The team is ranked 10th in the World by the FIFA, as of November 2022.FIFA wommen's ranking, retrieved 30 November 2022
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Youth football

North Korea has a distinguished record in youth football, in particularly Asia. North Korea has been a major football youth power in the continent, having won the AFC U-16 Championship twice and

AFC U-19 Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

three times. It is also a frequent participant in the

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 ...

, winning one gold medal, and has participated in every editions of the

AFC U-23 Championship The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 n ...

. The team also participated in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

.

Largest North Korean football stadiums

References

External links

North Korea
at the FIFA website.
North Korea
at the AFC website.
North Korea football matches

DPRK Premier Football League
{{Football in Asia Football in North Korea

Governing body

Teams and competitions

National teams

Men

Women

Youth football

Largest North Korean football stadiums

See also

References

Further reading

External links