Goal Programme - DPR Korea Football Association - 2001

At the 1966 FIFA World Cup?, North Korea sent shock waves throughout the football world by beating Italy 1-0 and advancing to the quarter finals, where they finally succumbed 3-5 to Portugal after initially leading 3-0. Such triumphs have not been repeated since - apart from coming second at the Asian Games Football Tournaments in 1990 and 1993. Kim Yong Min, Ri Chang Ha and Yong Kwang Min are the only players to have signed for a foreign club (all three with top division Kariak in Kazakhstan). Recently, North Korea have been making a name for themselves in women's football. The national team qualified for a FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time in 1999, won the AFC Women's Championship in 2001 and the Asian Games Football Tournament in 2002.

On 25 October 2002, Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar), AFC President and chairman of the Goal Bureau, inaugurated the newly laid artificial turf in the Kim II Sung Stadium in Pyongyang that had been refurbished in 1982 in order to hold 100,000 spectators. Thanks to the new artificial pitch, the stadium now plays host to football for practically the whole year. Having passed the FIFA Quality Control tests, the turf will host top international matches and afford ideal conditions for the association to conduct a variety of development programmes and promote women's football, which is currently riding high as a result of recent successes.