The national football team of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (recognized as Korea DPR by FIFA) is the national team of North Korea and is controlled by the DPR Korea Football Association. The team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup twice; in 1966, where they reached the quarter-finals, and for the forthcoming competition in 2010. Korea DPR have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup three times; in 1980, when they finished fourth, in 1992 and in 2011. The current team is composed of both native North Koreans and Zainichi Koreans born in Japan.
1964 Olympic football tournament
Korea DPR qualified for 1964 Olympic football tournament but withdrew.
1966 World Cup
Korea DPR's most notable result in international play came in the 1966 World Cup at Middlesbrough F.C. home Ayresome Park, when the team upset Italy 1-0 to gain a spot in the quarterfinals. There, they lost 5-3 to Portugal despite taking a 3-0 lead in the 24th minute. The North Korean team was the first Asian team to progress beyond the first round of the World Cup finals. The documentary film The Game of Their Lives by Daniel Gordon is about the seven surviving members in 2002 of the 1966 national team.
1976 Olympic football tournament
Korea DPR reached quarter-finals at 1976 Olympic football tournament.
1978 Asian Games
Korea DPR won gold medals at the Asian Games football tournament in 1978.
2006 World Cup qualification
In March 2005, Korea DPR entered a match with Iran with limited chances of qualifying for the World Cup finals due to poor performance in early fixtures. During the match hosted in Pyongyang, North Korean fans became enraged when the referee failed to award North Korea with a penalty kick after a controversial play near the end of the match. Demanding a penalty, they rushed Syrian referee Mohamed Kousa, who instead gave a North Korean player a red card. Bottles, stones and chairs were thrown on to 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 were forced to step in to force back the crowd.Following this incident, North Korea lost its right to host the subsequent home match with Japan and the game was instead played in an empty stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ticket4Football.com is the most specialized and fully dedicated football ticket website offering the best place to buy all World Cup Tickets. You can buy World Cup Final Tickets and World Cup Semi Final Tickets online through our secure and guaranteed online booking system. You can also sell World Cup Football Tickets here!. Ticket4Football offers 100% safe and secure online booking system for World Cup 2010 tickets.
