North Korea national football team
men's national association football team representing North Korea
The North Korea national football team (Munhwaeo Korean: 조선민주주의인민공화국 국가종합팀; North Korean romanisation: Josŏn minjujuŭi inmin konghwaguk kukka chonghap thim; recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) represents North Korea in men's international football and it is controlled by the DPR Korea Football Association, the governing body for football in North Korea. It has been a member of FIFA since 1958 and a member of AFC since 1974.
North Korea’s national team made its FIFA World Cup debut in 1966, reaching the quarter-finals and defeating Italy in the group stage, becoming the first men's Asian team in history to advance beyond the group stage. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, controversy arose when the team's supporters rioted over the team's failure to qualify, interfering with the opposing team’s exit from the stadium. In 2009, the team secured qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, marking its second World Cup appearance in their history. North Korea has qualified for the AFC Asian Cup six times; finishing fourth in 1980, and appearing in 1992, 2011, in 2015, and in 2019. The current squad includes both native North Koreans and Japanese Zainichi Koreans.
History
North Korea's debut and the 1966 FIFA World Cup
The North Korea Football Association was founded in 1945. It became a member of the AFC during the confederation's first year of existence in 1954, and has been affiliated with FIFA since 1958. The first official match of the North Korean national football team was played on 22 March 1964, in Rangoon, against Burma, as part of the 1964 Olympic qualifiers.
The public source identifies “North Korea national football team” as men's national association football team representing North Korea. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around North, Korea and national.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14132. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1958, 1974, 1966 and 2006.
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This entry incorporates text from “North Korea national football team” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.