North Korea national football team


The Democratic People's Republic of Korea national football team or simply known as North Korea national football team represents North Korea in men's international football and it is governed by the DPR Korea Football Association, the governing body for football in North Korea. The team represents both FIFA and Asian Football Confederation.
North Korea surprised with a good showing at their World Cup debut, reaching the quarter-finals in 1966, beating Italy in the group stage, being the first Asian team in history to make it past the group stage. During the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers, controversy arose when the team's supporters rioted, interfering with the opponents' safe egress from the stadium, because of North Korea's failure to qualify. In 2009, the team qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the second World Cup appearance in their history. North Korea has qualified for the AFC Asian Cup five times; in 1980, when they finished fourth, in 1992, 2011, in 2015, and in 2019. The current team is composed of both native North Koreans and Chongryon-affiliated Koreans born in Japan.

History

1966 World Cup

Qualification

Finals

In the 1966 World Cup, North Korea played their matches at Middlesbrough's home ground Ayresome Park, when the team caused an upset, beating Italy 1–0 to gain a spot in the quarter-finals. There, they lost 5–3 to Portugal, despite taking a 3–0 lead after thirty minutes. The North Korea team was the first team from outside Europe or the Americas to progress beyond the first round of the World Cup finals. In a 1999 documentary featuring interviews with surviving members of the team, they describe themselves as having been welcomed home as national heroes.
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1976 Olympic football tournament

The North Korea football team finished second in their group in the 1976 Summer Olympics, but lost 5–0 to Poland in the quarter-finals.

2006 World Cup qualifying stage controversy

In March 2005, the North Korean team was playing Iran in Pyongyang when North Korean fans became enraged when the referee failed to award North Korea a penalty kick after a controversial incident near the end of the match. Demanding a penalty, the North Korean footballers rushed Syrian referee Mohamed Kousa, who instead gave a North Korean player a red card. Bottles, stones and chairs were thrown onto the field following the play. After the match was over, North Korean fans refused to let the Iranian team leave the stadium on their team bus. The violence was so severe that riot police forced back the crowd. Following this incident, North Korea lost its right to host the subsequent home match with Japan and the game was instead played behind closed doors in Bangkok, Thailand.

2010 World Cup

Qualification

The North Korea football team qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup after finishing 2nd place in Group B of Asian qualifying. Their finishing place was not decided until the day of the last fixture of the group, in which they needed not only to avoid defeat in a match against Saudi Arabia, but also relied on Iran losing to South Korea. After the Koreans scored the same number of points as Saudi Arabia, North Korea qualified through goal difference. With a final pre-tournament FIFA ranking of 105th in the world, North Korea was the lowest-ranked team to qualify for the World Cup since the rankings began in 1993.

Finals

2010 was North Korea's first appearance at the World Cup since 1966. The draw placed North Korea in Group G. They played their first match against five-time winners Brazil on 15 June. Despite their best efforts, they were nevertheless outmatched and lost 1–2.
In their next game against Portugal on 21 June, they were defeated 0–7. Despite starting well, their defensive and well organised approach unravelled after Portugal scored on them. The Koreans lost their final match against Ivory Coast 0–3 on 25 June. Having lost all three group matches, they were knocked out, finishing at the bottom of Group G. It was reported that the small contingency of apparent North Korean football fans were actually Chinese people who bought tickets reserved for North Korean government officials. North Korea subsequently denied the report, and claimed instead that the Chinese were small in number, and that the regime had permitted their travel. There were also reports that the North Korean government punished the coach and players for losing the matches by sending them on a hard labour in mines. However, FIFA's investigators could not confirm that.
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Recent results and fixtures

2019

2020

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

AFC Asian Cup

Asian Games

AFC Challenge Cup record

East Asian Cup

Dynasty Cup

[Nehru Cup]

PositionNameNationality
Head coachYun Jong-su
Assistant coachKim Yong-jun
Goalkeeper coachBaek Nam-chol
Technical directorKim Jong-yong

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were selected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Turkmenistian and Lebanon on 14 and 19 November 2019, respectively.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the North Korea squad within the last twelve months.

Records

As of 7 June 2019. Players in bold are still active at international level.
#NameCareerCapsGoals
1Ri Myong-Guk2007–1050
2Pak Nam-Chol2004–20127414
3Ri Kwang-Chon2001–2012701
4Jong Il-Gwan2011–6521
5Kim Yong-Jun2001–2011608
6Pak Song-Chol2007–20175512
7Mun In-Guk2004–2011546
8Hong Yong-Jo2002–20115113
=Jang Kuk-Chol2011–514
10Ri Chol-Myong2007–2016507
=Nam Song-Chol2003–2010502

#PlayerGoalsCapsCareer
1Jong Il-Gwan21652011–
2Jong Tae-se15332007–2011
3Pak Nam-Chol14742004–2012
=Pak Kwang-Ryong14382009–
5Hong Yong-Jo13512002–2011
6Pak Song-Chol12552007–2017
7Choe Chol-Man11212005-2010

Honours

Since 2014, North Korea's official kit provider is currently produced by the North Korean sports company Choeusu.
PeriodKit Provider
1948–1992 Admiral
1992–2002 Fila
2002–2003 Lotto
2003–2005 Adidas
2005–2006 Umbro
2006–2008 Hummel
2008–2010 ERKE
2010–2014 Legea
2014–present Choeusu