Association football in North Korea is governed by the DPR Korea Football Association (KFA), which was established in 1945. Due to the state's secrecy, attendances and popularity for club matches in the country are hard to gauge.
Governing Body[]
The KFA oversees the Korea DPR national football team, the Korea DPR women's national football team and the North Korean football league system, including the DPR Korea League. The body became an AFC affiliate in 1954 and a FIFA affiliate in 1958. Its chairman is Mun Jae Chol.
Teams and Competitions[]
The DPR Korea League is the highest league in the Korean football league system. Below it comes the DPR K-League 2 and the Amateur DPR K-League 3. The DPR Korea League consists of three leagues which are played at different times of the year. Due to this and the general unwillingness of the North Korean football system to follow general world player transfer rules due to the political system of the country, the DPR Korea League winners are generally not eligible for any Asian Football Confederation club competition. Were they eligible they would be ranked for entry into the AFC President's Cup.
The main cup competition is the DPR Korean Cup, sometimes known as the Open Cup.
Men's national team[]
The Korea DPR national football team are ranked 106th in the world. They consist of North Koreans and Chongryon-affiliated Koreans born in Japan. They have reached the FIFA World Cup finals twice; in 1966 and 2010. In 1966, the team managed to make up for a 3–0 loss to the Soviet Union in the first match of the group stages to qualify for the next round in second. In the quarter-finals, Korea DPR lost 5–3 to Portugal thanks to four goals from Eusébio, 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.
Women's national team[]
Unlike the men's team, the women's squad consists entirely of North Korea-born Koreans. It is much more successful than its male counterpart, reaching the quarter-finals of the last Women's World Cup in 2007 and winning the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2008.
External links[]
- North Korea at the FIFA website.
- North Korea at the AFC website.