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North Korea's Naegohyang Women's FC defeated South Korea's Suwon FC Women 2-1 in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.
The club became the first North Korean women's side to play on South Korean soil in what was the first inter-Korean women's club football match to take place south of the border.
The match, held at the Suwon Sports Complex Stadium, 30 kilometers south of Seoul, drew 5,763 spectators, with all 7,087 general admission tickets having sold out within hours of going on sale the previous week. The game was played in heavy rain at the stadium, which has no roof.
The occasion attracted significant attention beyond the football community. South Korean civic groups, backed financially by the government's unification ministry, sent hundreds of members to the stadium, many waving flags bearing Naegohyang's logo and holding banners welcoming the Pyongyang-based club.
Naegohyang had arrived at the Incheon International Airport on Sunday to crowds of reporters and supporters holding welcome signs.
The North Korean side was the first North Korean sports team to visit South Korea in eight years.
Suwon head coach Park Kil-young said the unusual atmosphere of the match had affected his players. South Korean civic groups in the stands were largely cheering for the visiting North Korean side, leaving Suwon's own supporters outnumbered.
"We are Suwon FC Women of the Republic of Korea," Park said. "Throughout the match, our players and our staff felt hurt."
Park said the loss also represented a missed opportunity to grow interest in women's football in South Korea. "We needed to win today to draw more attention to women's football here, and our players competed so hard with that in mind," he said
"Hopefully, this match will help people take more interest in our sport and make them come to more matches."
Park took personal responsibility for the missed penalty, saying he had instructed Ji to take the kick. "The buck stops with me," he said. "I told her not to worry about it and not to hang her head, because I asked her to take it and I will be responsible for everything."
Naegohyang will face Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the final, scheduled for Saturday at the same venue, with $1 million on the line. Tokyo Verdy Beleza defeated Naegohyang 4-0 in their group-stage encounter last November.
Naegohyang head coach Ri Yu-il, who previously led North Korea's women's national team, acknowledged the South Korean crowd's enthusiasm for the sport. "I felt that people here have such a high level of interest in football," Ri said.
Naegohyang goal scorer Choe said team cohesion was key to the result. "We believed in our abilities. If we stick together as one, then we shouldn't have any problem in the final," she said.
North Korea has had considerable success in international women's youth football in recent years, winning consecutive FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup titles in 2024 and 2025, the U-20 Women's World Cup in 2024, and both the 2024 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup and the 2024 and 2026 U-17 Women's Asian Cup.
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