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North Korea is one of the Asian Football Confederation women's powerhouses alongside Japan, China and Australia. The Eastern Azaleas won the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2001 (scoring 53 goals in 6 matches, a record that still stands), 2003, and 2008, and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.[4]
History
1980s
According to data from the Korean Central News Agency, women's football in the country began to take shape in 1985. The first football team was formed in the Society of Provincial Sports of South Pyongan Province (Korean:평안남도체육선수단), and other women's football teams started emerging soon after. On May 19, 1986, the first exhibition match of women's football teams was played at the Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang.[5]
The first national match of the North Korean national team was held on December 21, 1989, against the Chinese national team as part of the 1989 AFC Women's Championship. The match, which took place in Hong Kong, ended in a 1–4 defeat for the Koreans. Later in the same tournament, the national team played two more matches, losing 1–3 to Chinese Taipei and winning 4–0 against Thailand, thus finishing third in their group.[6] In the following year, in 1990, the North Korean national team won their first international medal, securing bronze medals at the Women's Football Tournament of the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. They only suffered one loss to the Chinese team during the tournament and achieved a 7–0 victory against the South Korean national team.
The 1991 AFC Women's Championship in Japan, in addition to its primary purpose, served as a qualification stage for the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the top three East Asian teams earning a spot in the World Cup. The North Korean national team had a successful start in the tournament, finishing second in their subgroup, which qualified them for the semi-finals. In the semi-final match, the Koreans were defeated by the Chinese team with a score of 0–1. In the match for third place, they faced the Chinese Taipei team. The regular and extra time of the match ended in a goalless draw, and the winner was determined in a penalty shootout, in which the North Korean national team lost 4–5,[7] finishing fourth in the tournament and narrowly missing qualification for the World Cup. The 1993 AFC Women's Championship brought silver medals to the North Korean team, as they only lost the final match to the Chinese team with a score of 3–0.[8] The North Korean team missed the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup tournament as they were absent from 1994 Asian Games held in Hiroshima, which served as a parallel qualification for the World Cup. The North Korean national team was also absent from the 1995 AFC Women's Championship.
For the first time in their history, the Korean women's team secured a spot in the World Cup after finishing as runners-up in the 1997 AFC Women's Championship. In the semi-finals, they defeated the Japanese national team with a score of 1–0. In the final match, they faced the Chinese team once more and were defeated 0–2.[9] At the 1998 Asian Games, the North Korean national team reached the final again but lost 0–1 to its China counterparts. In their first World Cup, the North Korean team was placed in a group with Nigeria, Denmark, and the tournament hosts, the United States. They lost their first match against Nigeria 1–2, but bounced back in the second match to defeat the Danish team 3–1. A 0–3 loss to the United States in the final group-stage match left the North Korean team in third place in the group, preventing them from reaching the tournament's knockout stage.[10]
Disqualification for 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
During the team's participation at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, on 7 July 2011, FIFA announced that two of its players, Song Jong-Sun and Jong Pok-Sim, had failed doping tests during the tournament and were provisionally suspended prior to their team's match against Colombia.[11] On 16 July, FIFA announced that three additional players from North Korea tested positive following target testing of the whole team.[12] North Korea reasoned the positive doping results in from deer musk-derived Chinese traditional medicine used to treat players hit by lightning.[13] On 25 August 2011, the North Korean team was fined US$ 400,000 which is equal to the prize it received by finishing 13th in the 2011 tournament, and was excluded from participation at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, including its qualification round.[14]
2020s
After it won the 2019 Cyprus Women's Cup in March 2019, the team was inactive until the 2022 Asian Games (played in September 2023) partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic;[15] during this time, the team became unranked due to a lack of FIFA-recognized play.[16] The team's ranking has since been restored.[17] North Korea would almost qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics losing to Japan in the two-leg third round Olympic qualifiers.[18]
As of the June 2024 FIFA rankings, the team is ranked 10th in the world.[19]
↑"FIFA Women's World Cup USA 1999". fifa.com. FIFA. 25 May 2014. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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1 (11 December 2025) [1] 
China 4–1 North Korea 
North Korea 24–0 Singapore 
France 5–0 North Korea 
