North Korea women's football team to visit South Korea for first time in 8 years, to take part in AFC final amid severed inter-Korean ties

[Financial News] A North Korean sports delegation will visit South Korea for the first time in eight years, following the breakdown in inter-Korean communication. The North Korea women's football team will arrive on the 17th to compete in the 2026 AFC Women's Champions League Final, hosted by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Teams that won domestic leagues across Asia will take part in the tournament.
It will be the first visit by a North Korean delegation to South Korea since 2018. The last North Korean event held in South Korea was the 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in December 2018. At the time, the two Koreas fielded a unified mixed doubles table tennis team. The North Korea women's football team will also be visiting South Korea for the first time in 12 years. Its last appearance in the country was at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Naegohyang Women's FC will travel with 27 players, including four reserves, and 12 staff members. The North Korean side will face Suwon FC Women in the semifinals on the 20th. If it beats the South Korean team, it will play the winner of the other semifinal between Melbourne City Football Club of Australia and Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan in the final at Suwon Sports Complex on the 23rd.
North Korea finished the group stage in Group C with two wins and one loss. It beat South Korea and Vietnam, but lost 4-0 to Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza. In the Group C round-robin, Suwon FC Women had previously lost 3-0 to Naegohyang Women's FC.
Naegohyang Women's FC was founded in 2012 and is based in Pyongyang. It is known as a corporate sports team sponsored by consumer goods company Naegohyang. After winning North Korea's top division in the 2021-22 season, it emerged as a rising power, overtaking April 25 Sports Club (4.25 SC). Many of its players are national-team level athletes with World Cup titles at the U-17 and U-20 levels.
The North Korea women's football team is ranked 11th in the world by FIFA and second in Asia, behind Japan. As of April this year, FIFA rankings placed Japan 8th, North Korea 11th, Australia 15th, China 17th, and South Korea 21st.

rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter