SEOUL (Kashmir English): A North Korean women’s football team will be the first sports club from the country to play in rival South Korea since 2018 when they visit this month.
The Seoul’s unification ministry confirmed the scheduled event. The two nations technically remain at war after their 1950–53 conflict ended in a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty and sporting and cultural exchanges between the two Koreas are very rare.
The ministry said North Korean authorities sent the South a “notification of a 39-member delegation” from Naegohyang Women’s FC, who will play the South’s Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The delegation includes 27 players and 12 club staff, the ministry said without further detailing when exactly the team would arrive in South Korea.
The winner of the game will play the final of Asia’s top women’s club competition on May 23 against either Australia’s Melbourne City or Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza.
“The losing team in the semi-final will return home on Thursday, May 21, with no third-place playoff scheduled,” the ministry said in a press release.
The upcoming fixture will be the first time a North Korean sports team has played in the South since shooting, youth football and table tennis delegations travelled in the neighbouring country in 2018.
The last time North Korea sent a women’s football team to the South was in 2014, when the former’s national team took part at the Asian Games in Incheon.
North Korea’s national team
North Korea’s national team is one of the strong teams in Asian women’s football, winning multiple international titles in recent years.
They defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the final of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in November last year.
