North Korean Women's National Football Team / World Championships

North Korea
조선 민주주의 인민 공화국
(Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk)

World Cup record scorer :	Jin Pyol-hui (3)
World Cup record player:	Ri Kum-suk (9)
Rank :	16
Balance sheet
13 World Cup games 3 wins 2 draws 8 defeats 12:20 goals
statistics
First World Cup game North Korea 3-1 Denmark Portland ( USA ); June 24, 1999
Biggest World Cup victory North Korea 3-0 Nigeria Philadelphia ( USA ); September 20, 2003
Biggest World Cup defeats North Korea 0: 3 USA Foxborough ( USA ); June 27, 1999 North Korea 0-3 USA Columbus ( USA ); September 28, 2003 North Korea 0-3 Germany Wuhan ( CHN ); September 22, 2007
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	4 ( first : 1999 )
Best results	Quarterfinals 2007
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 30, 2019 )

The article provides a detailed account of the North Korean national soccer team for women at world championships . North Korea qualified for four women's World Cup finals. In the all-time table, the team is the second best team with four participations, 16th place. In 2011, the team caused a doping scandal and was then excluded from the 2015 World Cup.

The national team at world championships

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1991	People's Republic of China	not qualified				In the AFC Asian Cup Women 1991 in the Republic of China failed.
1995	Sweden	not participated
1999	United States	Preliminary round	Nigeria , Denmark , USA	10.	Tong Chan	Preliminary round as a third party
2003	United States	Preliminary round	Nigeria , Sweden , USA	11.	Ri Song-gun	Preliminary round as a third party
2007	People's Republic of China	Quarter finals	Germany	8th.	Kim Kwang-min	Off against the successful defending champion
2011	Germany	Preliminary round	Sweden , USA , Colombia	13.	Kim Kwang-min	Several players tested positive for doping .
2015	Canada	not allowed				Banned for doping offenses in 2011.
2019	France	not qualified				In the qualification for the Asian Cup in 2018 failed.

statistics

(Figures incl. 2019: eight world championships; percentages are rounded)

• not participated: once (13%; 1995)
• not qualified: twice (25%; 1991)
• not permitted: once (13%; 2015)
• qualified: four times (50% or 67% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: three times (38%; 1999, 2003 and 2011)
  • Quarter-finals: once (13%; 2007)

The tournaments

World Cup 1991 in the People's Republic of China

North Korea also wanted to qualify for the first women's World Cup in the People's Republic of China . The team therefore took part in the Asian women's football championship in 1991 , which served as a qualification for the Asian teams. After a 1-0 defeat against Japan , the next three preliminary round games were won: 12-0 against Malaysia , 5-0 against Hong Kong and 8-0 against Singapore . As runners-up in the group, the team met the team from the People's Republic of China , which, although qualified as hosts for the World Cup, nevertheless took part in the Asian Cup. This game was lost with 0: 1. In the game for third place, the team from the Republic of China was the opponent. Since neither team could score a goal, the penalty shoot-out had to decide, which was lost 4-5. The Republic of China qualified for the World Cup alongside the two finalists, People's Republic of China and Japan.

World Cup 1995 in Sweden

Three years later, the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima served as World Cup qualifiers. Since North Korea did not take part in the Asian Games, the team could not qualify for the World Cup, which took place on European soil for the first time. North Korea also missed the women's soccer tournament at the 1996 Olympic Games , in which only the eight best teams from the World Cup could take part.

World Cup 1999 in the USA

For the third World Cup, North Korea was able to qualify for the first time. After a 1: 3 preliminary round defeat at the 1997 Asian Women's Cup against the People's Republic of China, the next two group matches were won against the Philippines and Uzbekistan : 14: 1 and 8: 0. North Korea met Japan in the semi-finals as the best runner-up in the group and won 1-0, which is the first time the team qualified for the World Cup. In the final, the People's Republic of China was the opponent again and the Chinese won again, this time 2-0. In the small final, Japan beat the Republic of China 2-0 and completed the Asian starting field.

In the US, North Korea met on June 20, 1999 in Pasadena on African champions Nigeria and lost with 1: 2. The realized Jo Song-ok , the first World Cup goal for the North Koreans. In the second game against Denmark the first win in a World Cup was achieved with a 3-1 win. With a 3-0 defeat against hosts USA , North Korea was eliminated in third place and thus also missed the women's soccer tournament at the 2000 Olympic Games , in which, in addition to hosts Australia, only the seven best teams from the World Cup could take part.

2003 World Cup in the USA

The 2003 World Cup should actually take place again in the People's Republic of China . Because of the SARS epidemic, the tournament was moved to the USA at short notice. This was the second time that the World Cup took place in the USA. But the Asians now had four starting places. North Korea had to qualify at the 2003 Asian Cup, which again served as a qualification . After three wins in the group stage against Hong Kong (13: 0), Thailand (14: 0) and Singapore (16: 0), a 2: 2 followed against South Korea. It is the only draw between the two teams to date . Due to the more goals scored against the three other teams, North Korea was group winners, South Korea second in the group, but both of them reached the semi-finals and thus for the first time both Koreas qualified for a World Cup. In the semifinals, North Korea then won against Japan, the South lost to the People's Republic of China, which then lost to North Korea in the final through Golden Goal , making North Korea the Asian champions for the second time. In addition to the two finalists and South Korea, Japan also qualified for the World Cup in the intercontinental playoffs against Mexico , so that for the first time four Asian teams took part.

In the United States, the North Koreans faced African champions Nigeria in their first group match like four years before , but this time they won 3-0. The second game was followed by a 0-1 defeat against Sweden and in the last game, like four years earlier, hosts USA were the opponents and again they lost 3-0. With that, North Korea retired as third party.

World Cup 2007 in the People's Republic of China

Four years later the World Cup took place in the People's Republic of China for the second time . The 2006 Asian women's soccer championship served as qualification . But it was now a little more difficult to qualify, because Australia - especially to offer the men's national team better chances of qualifying for a World Cup - had switched to the Asian association, and the Asian Cup was held in Australia . North Korea survived the preliminary round without conceding a goal. After a 9-0 opening match against Thailand , a 3-0 win against Myanmar , a 0-0 win against hosts Australia and a 1-0 win against South Korea followed, making North Korea group winners ahead of the Australians with equal points, but the South were eliminated. In the semifinals, however, the People's Republic of China, which, although qualified as hosts for the World Cup, took part in the Asian Cup, retaliated for the defeat in the final three years earlier and also won the title back in the final by winning on penalties against Australia. North Korea then won the small final against Japan and also qualified for the World Cup, Japan succeeded again in intercontinental playoffs against Mexico.

The draw for the preliminary round of the World Cup resulted in the same opponents for North Korea as four years earlier: Nigeria, Sweden and the USA, albeit in a different order. At the beginning, the USA were the opponents, North Korea scored 2-2 and won the only point against the Americans to date. In the second game against the African champions , they won 2-0. The last game against the Swedes was lost 2-1, but since the Swedes had lost to the USA and only scored 1-1 against Nigeria, they were both tied. Since the direct comparison did not count, North Korea was second in the group due to the better goal difference and reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time. There the defending champion from Germany was the opponent and both played an exciting game in the first half with chances on both sides. Just before half-time, Kerstin Garefrekes put the Germans in the lead. In the second half, North Korea put more pressure on, but the goals fell for the German team, who made it 3-0 to the semi-finals and were unbeatable in the last two games. Reaching the quarter-finals is North Korea's performance so far at the World Cup.

World Cup 2011 in Germany

North Korea was able to qualify again for the World Cup in Germany, but the superiority over the weaker Asian teams was less. At the 2010 Asian Women's Football Championship , which took place in the People's Republic of China, the group matches against Thailand and Myanmar were only won 3-0 and 2-0 respectively, and then lost against Japan 2-1. In the semifinals, the People's Republic of China could not use their home advantage and lost to North Korea 1-0 after extra time. North Korea was thus qualified for the World Cup, the final defeat on penalties against Australia, which became Asian champions for the first time, could be overlooked. The People's Republic of China could not use the home advantage in the game for third place against Japan, so that for the first time a World Cup for women took place without China. Instead, the Chinese had to watch from a distance as Japan became the first Asian team to become world champions, which they were denied in 1999.

In the group draw for the World Cup finals, the North Koreans were drawn as three times before the USA and as twice before the Swedes. In addition, there was World Cup newcomer Colombia . The first opponent was the USA again and this time they lost 2-0. After a 1-0 draw against Sweden, it was already clear before the final game against the South Americans that both had to go home afterwards. Even before the game, urine samples from North Korean players Song Jong-sun and Jong Pok-sim were found to have “a substance from group S1B” ( steroid hormones ). The North Korean association refrained from analyzing the B sample, which experts commonly regard as an admission of guilt. After the game, North Korea's entire World Cup squad was asked for a doping control. On July 16, FIFA announced that three other unnamed players from the North Korean team had been convicted of doping. 14 different steroids were found in all female athletes, four of which were on the doping list.

The North Korean players Jong Pok-sim, Hong Myong-hui , Ho Un-byol and Ri Un-hyang who were convicted of doping during the World Cup were banned by FIFA on August 25, 2011 for 18 months and Song Jong-sun for 14 months. The North Korean Football Association doctor Nam Jong-ae has been banned for six years. The North Korean Football Association was also fined US $ 400,000. The national team was excluded from the 2015 World Cup in Canada.

2015 World Cup in Canada

Since North Korea was banned from the World Cup, the team did not take part in the 2014 Asian Cup, where world champions Japan won the title for the first time. The qualification would have been even easier this time, as the Asian women were now entitled to five starting places after the increase in the field of participants. Thailand thus benefited from the North Korean ban, qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time in fifth.

World Cup 2019 in France

North Korea was eligible to start again in 2019, but had to qualify for the 2018 Asian Cup . However, as in the years before the disqualification, the team was not directly qualified for the finals, but had to go to the pre-qualification against South Korea, Hong Kong, India and Uzbekistan. The tournament, which took place in April 2017, was organized by North Korea and the team did not lose a game, but came to a 1-1 draw against South Korea and scored three fewer goals than the South Koreans against the other three opponents, making it only second in the group was enough. North Korea is the only team that could not qualify for the finals undefeated. By not taking part, North Korea fell two places in the all-time table .

Games

North Korea has played 13 World Cup games so far. Of these, three were won and eight lost, and two ended in a draw. North Korea never played the opening game, but played twice against the hosts, twice against the eventual world champions and twice against the defending champions.

North Korea has so far played against teams from all other confederations, except Oceania, and against the champions of Europe, North and Central America and Africa.

The most games were played by Ri Kum-suk (9), the most World Cup goals were scored by Jin Pyol-hui (3).

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/20/1999	1: 2	Nigeria	*	Pasadena ( USA )	Preliminary round	First game against Nigeria
2	06/24/1999	3: 1	Denmark	*	Portland ( USA )	Preliminary round	First game against Denmark
3	06/27/1999	0: 3	United States	A.	Foxborough ( USA )	Preliminary round	First game against the USA
4th	09/20/2003	3-0	Nigeria	*	Philadelphia ( USA )	Preliminary round
5	09/25/2003	0: 1	Sweden	*	Philadelphia ( USA )	Preliminary round
6th	09/28/2003	0: 3	USA (TV)	A.	Columbus ( USA )	Preliminary round
7th	09/11/2007	2: 2	United States	*	Chengdu ( CHN )	Preliminary round
8th	09/14/2007	2-0	Nigeria	*	Chengdu ( CHN )	Preliminary round
9	09/18/2007	1: 2	Sweden	*	Tianjin ( CHN )	Preliminary round
10	09/22/2007	0: 3	Germany (TV)	*	Wuhan ( CHN )	Quarter finals
11	06/28/2011	0: 2	United States	*	Dresden ( DEU )	Preliminary round
12	07/02/2011	0: 1	Sweden	*	Augsburg ( DEU )	Preliminary round
13	07/06/2011	0-0	Colombia	*	Bochum ( DEU )	Preliminary round	First game against Colombia

Note: Teams in bold were champions of their confederation at the time of the match.

These victories for the North Korean team were also their highest victories against these countries:

•  Denmark 3-1 (preliminary round 1999, only win against Denmark)
•  Nigeria 3-0 (preliminary round, 2003)

The North Korean team suffered their biggest defeats at a World Cup tournament against these teams:

•  Germany 0: 3 (quarter-finals 2007) - and once 0: 3 in a friendly match in February 2010
•  Nigeria 1: 2 (1999 preliminary round, only defeat to Nigeria)
•  Sweden 0: 1 (preliminary round 2003 and 2011), 1: 2 (2007, preliminary round) - also a 0: 1 in a friendly match
•  USA 0: 3 (preliminary round 1999 and 2003)

Records

opponent

• The youngest participant in a World Cup: Ifeanyi Chiejine (born May 17, 1983, Nigeria ). At 16 years and 34 days, she was used on June 20, 1999 in the game against North Korea.

Negative records

• The quickest warning: Ri Hyang-ok in the 1st minute of the game North Korea vs. Nigeria 1999
• The longest series without a goal: North Korea (2007–2011), Ghana (1999–2003), Japan (1991–2005) and Nigeria (1991–1995 and 2007–2011) with 4 games each.
• First Asian champion to be eliminated in the preliminary round: 2003
• The only team that was banned from the following World Cup due to doping offenses.

See also

North Korean National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• FIFA Women's World Cup ^TM

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} In some statistics, e.g. B. FIFA is named Boston as the venue.
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games, see Statistical Kit FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 ™ ( Memento of January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), page 46
3. ↑ FIFA Women's World Cup Sweden 1995 - Preliminary Round Games - Asia Zone
4. ↑ Because England, as the seventh best team, was not allowed to start at the Olympic Games, Brazil was also able to participate as the ninth best team.
5. ↑ fifa.com: "Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta Women 1996"
6. ↑ Players from North Korea suspected of doping , Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 7, 2011 (accessed February 3, 2015)
7. ^ Doping scandal in North Korea , kicker.de from July 6, 2011 (accessed on February 3, 2015)
8. ↑ North Korea waives opening of the B-sample , Spiegel Online from July 7, 2011 (accessed on February 3, 2015)
9. ↑ framba.de: Further doping cases at the women's soccer world championship ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 7, 2011, accessed February 3, 2015
10. ↑ Three more North Koreans tested positive , kicker.de from July 16, 2011 (accessed on February 3, 20152)
11. ↑ FIFA excludes North Korea from the Women's World Cup , kicker.de from August 25, 2011 (accessed on February 3, 2015)
12. ↑ In some statistics, e.g. B. FIFA is named Los Angeles as the venue.
13. ↑ In its statistics, FIFA lists the game against Denmark on June 27, 1999 as its first game [1] (PDF; 335 kB), but in another FIFA statistic it is already in the list of the game against North Korea on June 20. June 1999 [2]