The North Korea national football team formed at the end of the second world war in 1945. The team became a full member of the Asian Football Confederation in 1954 and joined FIFA in 1958.

North Korea were previously the reigning unofficial football world champion, after taking the title from Japan in 2011. This lasted until January 2013, when the team lost to Sweden.

The North Korea national football team is something of a minor legend in world cup terms. The team first entered the 1966 world cup, hosted in England. The little-fancied team caused a major upset by qualifying from the group stage for the quarter-finals.

World cup history

1966

2010

2018

1966

England

Opening with a 3-0 defeat to the Soviet Union, nothing was expected of the débutantes. A late equalised in a 1-1 draw with Chile brought the team’s first world cup point and goal. In the last group game, North Korea beat the highly regarded Italy by 1-0 to finish second in their group. Despite scoring in the first minute and gaining a 3-0 lead, the team lost 5-3 to Portugal in the quarter-finals and were eliminated.

2010

South Africa

Over 40 years later, North Korea made a second appearance at a world cup finals. In South Africa, the team drew Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal in the first round. A late goal in the first game saw the team record a respectable 2-1 loss against giants Brazil. This was to be North Korea’s best result of the tournament. The team lost their next two games 7-0 to their 1966 quarter-final opponents Portugal, and 3-0 to Ivory Coast.

2018

Russia

The North Korea national football team entered qualifying in the second round where they have been drawn in Group H alongside Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Bahrain, and Yemen.

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