North Korea national football team
History

Qualification

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 North Korea 2 2 0 0 9 2 +7 4 2 Australia 2 0 0 2 2 9 â7 0 â South Africa (D) 0 â â â â â â 0 â South Korea (W) 0 â â â â â â 0

Source:

(D) Disqualified; (W) Withdrew.

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 1â0 to gain a spot in the quarter-finals. There, they lost 5â3 to Portugal, despite taking a 3â0 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.[5] In a 1999 documentary featuring interviews with surviving members of the team,[6] they describe themselves as having been welcomed home as national heroes.

The North Korea football team finished second in their group in the 1976 Summer Olympics, but lost 5â0 to Poland in the quarter-finals.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9]

Qualification

The North Korea football team qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup after finishing 2nd place in Group B of Asian qualifying.[10] 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.[11][12] 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.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts South Korea 8 4 4 0 12 4 +8 16 North Korea 8 3 3 2 7 5 +2 12 Saudi Arabia 8 3 3 2 8 8 0 12 Iran 8 2 5 1 8 7 +1 11 United Arab Emirates 8 0 1 7 6 17 â11 1

Source:

Finals

2010 was North Korea's first appearance at the World Cup since 1966.[13] The draw placed North Korea in Group G. They played their first match against five-time winners Brazil on 15 June. Despite playing close, they were nevertheless outmatched and lost 1â2. In their next game against Portugal on 21 June, they were defeated 0â7. Despite starting well (as against Brazil), their defensive and well organised approach unravelled after Portugal scored on them. The Koreans lost their final match against Ivory Coast 0â3 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.[14] North Korea subsequently denied the report, and claimed instead that the Chinese were small in number, and that the regime had permitted their travel.[15]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Brazil 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7 Advance to knockout stage 2 Portugal 3 1 2 0 7 0 +7 5 3 Ivory Coast 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 4 4 North Korea 3 0 0 3 1 12 â11 0

Source: FIFA

Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria

Post-World Cup

North Korea failed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with the team losing to Uzbekistan and Japan. North Korea also failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when the team suffered an unexpected defeat to the Philippines in the final game of the second round. A win would have ensured North Korea to progress as one of four best runners-up behind Uzbekistan; instead, North Korea missed out in favor of China.

North Korea on the time secured their participation in three consecutive Asian Cups, the 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions. However, North Korea performed poorly in both tournaments: North Korea obtained only one point in the 2011 edition, a goalless draw against the United Arab Emirates, and had suffered eight consecutive game losses in the tournament following the draw. In that shortcoming era, North Korea appointed the country's first foreign manager since 1993, when Norway-born JÃ¸rn Andersen coached North Korea. He was fired despite the team managing to qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup.