The Dprk Super League, translated in Korean as "Supreme Kickball League Battle", was founded in 2010 from the merger of the previous spring technical innovation competition and the autumn national players' rights conference, and for the first time adopted a home-and-away double-round robin format, with 10 teams participating, namely: Wanjingfeng (Sports Group, Xiatong), Pyongyang, Limingsui, Xiaobaishui, 4.25, Yalu River, Beacon Volcano, Qibaoshan, Light Industry Province and Organ Car Sports Group.
Although a brewer became the first sponsor of the league, it was not a pure and complete commercial football league, and it clearly had the characteristics of a national system and a provincial team. The 4.25 sports team has won the league championship for many years and has sent a large number of football talents to the national team! At the same time, the team has also participated in the group stage of the AFC Cup.
At 15:30 on March 19, 2010, the inaugural league opened at the Pyongyang Stadium, with the opening ceremony and the first match broadcast live on North Korea's state-run television.
In terms of the national team: North Korea participated in two World Cup finals in total, the 1966 and 2010 World Cups, and their quarter-finals in 1966 were arguably the highlight of North Korean football, with their 1-0 victory over Italy in the final game of the group stage to advance to the quarterfinals. If it weren't for the excellent performance of The Panther Eusebio in the final four, they would probably have replaced Portugal to advance. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, The DPRK qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup with a second place finish in Group B in the Asian Zone. And the tenacity and fighting spirit shown by the players in that cup made a deep impression on the fans.
Unfortunately, after 2010, the strength of North Korean football has entered a trough period, the last time it appeared in the competition was the 2019 Asian Cup, the North Korean team lost three games in the group with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Lebanon, swallowed 14 goals out, and is currently ranked outside the world's top 100.
The team has had no shortage of good players in recent years, such as
Zheng Riguan
Born on October 30, 1992 in North Korea, he played for Li Myung-shui, Lucerne and Weir in Switzerland. The North Korean youth team won the 2010 U19 Asian Youth Championship, and in the final, Jeong Il-kwan scored a hat-trick to help the team beat Australia, and he was also crowned the MVP of the tournament.
Jung Il-gwan, who now plays as a striker or attacking midfielder, is a brother in North Korean football, scoring 21 goals in 59 national team matches and is the national team top scorer.
Hong Ying early
Born on May 22, 1982 in Pyongyang, North Korea, he plays as a midfielder and is known as "Maradona of North Korea"! From 2005 to 2010, Hong Yingzao was the core and spiritual leader of the national team's attack and defense, scoring 11 goals in 42 appearances and leading the team to the 2010 World Cup.
In terms of personal career, Hong Ying began to travel to Europe as early as the early fame of the domestic league, leaving his own footprints in Serbia and Russia. In particular, as the core of the midfield, he led the Russian First Division team Rostov to rush to the Russian Premier League and performed well. In the early years, chengdu Sheffield United team, which was also close to joining the Chinese Super League, but the personal conditions could not be negotiated!
Jong
Born on March 2, 1984 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, he serves as a striker and is nicknamed "People's Rooney". In the 2010 World Cup team debut to play the national anthem, Zheng Dashi could not stop crying, and then made the headlines of the sports page and was well known by fans around the world.
Born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Korean father, Jeong has always regarded North Korea as his homeland, and as a striker, he played for Bochum in his heyday from 2010 to 2012, scoring 14 goals in 39 appearances. During the J League and K League, he played for Kawasaki Forwards, Suwon Bluewings, And Shimizu Heartbeat. In his national team career, he scored 15 goals in 33 games for North Korea, and his performance was remarkable.
Li Mingguo
Lee Myung-kook, born on September 9, 1986 in Pyongyang, North Korea, plays as a goalkeeper! He is the king of North Korean team history and has been the main national team since the age of 21, playing in 120 national team matches so far. In 2009, North Korea was able to qualify for the World Cup finals, and Lee Myung-kook was indispensable, from the qualifiers to the top ten and then advanced to the final stage, Lee Myung-kook only conceded 7 goals.
At the same time, there are also many players in the Dprk national football team playing in the leagues of China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, mostly the children of overseas Chinese.