Goal Programme - DPR Korea Football Association - 2004

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.

Following on from the opening of the Goal-financed artificial playing surface at the Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang in autumn 2001, the DPR Korea Football Association submitted a proposal for a second project to the Goal Bureau, which was approved on 17 February 2004. The aim of this project was to construct the association's very own headquarters, and renovate and extend a training centre in Pyongyang in order to help the association to secure further success.