North Korea national football team

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.[7]

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]

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	−11	1

The North Korean and Brazilian teams in 2010

North Korea playing against Brazil in the 2010 World Cup

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 1–2. In their next game against Portugal on 21 June, they were defeated 0–7. 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 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.[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	−11	0

15 June 2010

20:30

Brazil	2–1	North Korea
Maicon  55' Elano  72'	Report	Ji Yun-Nam  89'

Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

Attendance: 54,331

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

21 June 2010

13:30

Portugal	7–0	North Korea
Meireles  29' Simão  53' Almeida  56' Tiago  60', 89' Liédson  81' Ronaldo  87'	Report

Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

Attendance: 63,644

Referee: Pablo Pozo (Chile)

25 June 2010

16:00

North Korea	0–3	Ivory Coast
	Report	Y. Touré  14' Romaric  20' Kalou  82'

Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit

Attendance: 34,763

Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)

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 Jørn Andersen coached North Korea. He was fired despite the team managing to qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup.

Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

Asian Games record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1951	Did not enter
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974	Fourth place	7	3	1	3	11	8
1978	Champions	6	4	2	0	12	3
1982	Fourth place	6	2	2	2	9	8
1986	Did not enter
1990	Runners-up	5	1	3	1	2	2
1994	Did not enter
1998	13th place	4	1	2	1	6	8
2002–present	See North Korea national under-23 football team
Total	5/13	28	11	10	7	40	29

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

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
23	1GK	Ri Kwang-il	(1988-04-13) 13 April 1988	7	0	Sobaeksu
1	1GK	An Tae-song	(1993-10-21) 21 October 1993	6	0	April 25
21	1GK	Sin Hyok	(1992-07-03) 3 July 1992	1	0	Kigwancha
3	2DF	Jang Kuk-chol	(1994-02-16) 16 February 1994	62	5	Hwaebul
13	2DF	Sim Hyon-jin	(1991-01-01) 1 January 1991	41	2	April 25
16	2DF	Pak Myong-song	(1994-03-31) 31 March 1994	23	0	April 25
6	2DF	Kim Chol-bom	(1994-07-16) 16 July 1994	23	0	April 25
2	2DF	Ri Thong-il	(1992-11-20) 20 November 1992	10	1	Kigwancha
17	2DF	Ri Chang-ho	(1990-01-04) 4 January 1990	7	0	Hwaebul
18	2DF	Ri Yong-chol	(1991-01-08) 8 January 1991	5	0	Hwaebul
5	2DF	Hong Jin-song	(1994-02-22) 22 February 1994	3	0	Unattached
11	3MF	Jong Il-gwan (captain)	(1992-10-30) 30 October 1992	76	26	Rimyongsu
15	3MF	Ri Un-chol	(1995-07-13) 13 July 1995	25	1	Sonbong
12	3MF	Ri Yong-jik	(1991-02-08) 8 February 1991	23	1	Tokyo Verdy
8	3MF	Han Thae-hyok	(1988-06-20) 20 June 1988	6	0	Kigwancha
10	3MF	Kim Kum-chol	(1997-04-07) 7 April 1997	5	0	Rimyongsu
19	3MF	Song Jong-hyok	(1995-06-28) 28 June 1995	3	0	Hwaebul
4	3MF	Choe Song-hyok	(1998-02-28) 28 February 1998	2	0	Unattached
9	4FW	Pak Kwang-ryong	(1992-09-27) 27 September 1992	41	14	St. Pölten
14	4FW	Kim Yong-il	(1994-07-06) 6 July 1994	19	1	Kigwancha
7	4FW	Han Kwang-song	(1998-09-11) 11 September 1998	10	1	Al-Duhail
20	4FW	Pak Hyon-il	(1993-09-21) 21 September 1993	8	2	Amnokgang
22	4FW	Choe Ju-song	(1996-01-27) 27 January 1996	6	0	Amnokgang

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