Seoul, May 4 (EFE).-
North Korea’s women’s football team Naegohyang FC will compete this month in South Korea in the final stage of the AFC Women’s Champions League, facing a South Korean team in the semifinals after eight years without sports exchanges between the two countries.
The North Korean league team will face the South Korean team Suwon FC on May 20 at 7 pm in one of the tournament’s semifinals, which will be held at Suwon Stadium, south of Seoul, the South’s ministry of unification said in a statement on Monday.
Naegohyang FC’s visit would mark the first significant inter-Korean contact since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June last year.
Lee has sought to restart talks with Pyongyang, which have been suspended for years, but North Korea has ignored conciliatory gestures and continues to label the South as a “hostile state.”
The last time North Korean athletes participated in events in South Korea was in 2018, including the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February, which featured an inter-Korean women’s hockey team.
Pyongyang also participated in the Changwon World Shooting Championship in September of that year, and a mixed doubles pair from the two Koreas in the Grand Final of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships in Incheon, in December.
Naegohyang FC, founded in 2012 and based in Pyongyang, qualified for the Champions League after winning the North Korean top division in the 2023-2024 season.
The North Korean team advanced to the semifinals after defeating Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City FC 3-0 in the quarterfinals, while Suwon FC crushed China’s Wuhan Jiangda 4-0.
Suwon FC expects a tough match after being convincingly defeated (0-3) by Naegohyang FC in the group stage held in November 2025 in Myanmar.
Women’s football in North Korea is a powerhouse in the region. It currently ranks 11th in the FIFA rankings, the second-highest position in Asia after Japan (8th), significantly surpassing South Korea, which is in 21st place.
North Korea’s women’s national team won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2025 and the U-20 in 2024, with some players currently playing for Naegohyang, whose name means “my homeland.”
The North Korean delegation will consist of 39 people, including 27 players, according to the unification ministry’s statement.
The other semifinal, between the Australian team Melbourne City FC and the Japanese Tokyo Verdy Beleza, will take place on the same day, while the final will be held on May 23.
All matches will be played at the same stadium. This is the second edition of the Women’s Champions League, although North Korea did not participate in the first competition. EFE
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