North Korea's Naegohyang women's soccer team will visit Korea to compete in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League (AWCL).
The Korea Football Association said on the 4th that Naegohyang will visit to face Suwon FC Women in the 2025-2026 AWCL semifinals. An association official said, "On the 1st, the AFC informed the football association that Naegohyang's participation in the match was confirmed. We plan to proceed with the application procedures to the government for the Naegohyang delegation's visit."
It has been eight years since a North Korean delegation visited Korea. The last visit was for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Grand Finals held in Incheon in Dec. 2018. At that time, North Korea's Cha Hyo-sim paired with Jang Woo-jin to compete in mixed doubles. The last official appearance by a North Korean national team, not a unified team, was at the World Shooting Championships held in Sept. the same year.
This year's AWCL semifinals and final in Korea will be played in one location under the name "AWCL Final." The Korea Football Association submitted a letter of intent to host in Jan., and secured hosting rights when Suwon FC Women sealed a place in the semifinals. With Naegohyang women's soccer team also reaching the semifinals, an inter-Korean club showdown in Korea has been set.
Naegohyang, founded in 2012 and based in Pyongyang, is an emerging powerhouse that won the North Korean first division in the 2021-2022 season. The team entered this tournament as the 2023-2024 league champion and advanced to the main round by recording three wins in the qualifiers (23 goals scored, none conceded).
According to the Ministry of Unification, the visiting Naegohyang delegation totals 39 people, including 27 players and 12 staff. Naegohyang is scheduled to enter via Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of the 17th after transiting through Beijing, China.
The semifinal between Suwon FC and Naegohyang will be held at 7 p.m. on the 20th, and the winner will compete for the title at 2 p.m. on the 23rd against the winner of Melbourne City vs. Tokyo Verdy. Both semifinals and the final will be held at Suwon Sports Complex.