North Korea is basking in its dominance of women’s youth soccer after a third World Cup win in just over a year, sporting success that is being used to justify the secretive state’s political system.
A 3-0 win against the Netherlands in Morocco on Saturday saw the North Koreans lift a second successive FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup, and fourth in all, following their victory 12 months ago. The back-to-back U-17 triumphs came after North Korea, which is largely closed off to the outside world, also won the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in September last year.
The North Koreans swept all before them in Morocco, scoring a tournament record 25 goals and conceding just three as they won all seven of their matches.
Photo: EPA
The triumph on Monday saw North Korea’s propaganda machine swing into action with the team’s exploits seized upon by state media as bringing “joy to our beloved motherland.”
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper blazed a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) piece across its front page trumpeting: “Our players ran across the pitch waving the dignified flag of our republic with pride.”
Nuclear-armed but impoverished, North Korea is more often in the news for sanctions-busting ballistic missile launches, but sees investment in sporting success as a way to vindicate its political system.
The victory served as “great encouragement and inspiration to all the people ... to host the 9th [the Workers’] Party [of Korea] Congress as a victorious and glorious event,” state mouthpiece KCNA said.
It was referring to the once-every-five-years gathering of the country’s highest decisionmaking body presided over by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
A year ago, officials staged a street parade upon the players’ return from the U-17 World Cup.
Hong Min, analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, said he expected a repeat of those celebrations in Pyongyang in the next few days.
“There is a strong perception that the country is culturally backward and isolated,” he said. “So, they will want to use this to project an image that their social and cultural foundations are strong and vibrant.”
Children with athletic potential were selected early for training, Hong said.
“The North finds elite athletes at a very young age and pours in deep investment at a state level with an aim to stage them in global competition,” Hong said. “Players in return feel they must repay such investment with their performances.”
Such an approach was “commonly seen in socialist countries” where the state takes a central role in developing elite athletes, he said.
The strength in women’s soccer is a contrast to the North Korea’s men, who are ranked 120th by FIFA and have not qualified for a World Cup since 2010. The senior North Korean women’s team are ranked 10th and are one of the favorites for next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia. Of the 12 teams that have qualified, only Japan (eighth) have a higher world ranking.
Lee Jung-woo, a senior lecturer in sports and leisure policy at the University of Edinburgh, said North Korea takes a stricter approach to youth sport than countries in the West.
“In youth football, I think European sport organizations highlight more on having fun,” he said in an interview with German outlet DW.
However, in North Korea, young players “join very highly disciplined, highly systematic and highly professionalized training regimes, so in early ages they can excel,” he added.
The Netherlands women’s U-17 coach Olivier Amelink conceded that the North Koreans had been in a class of their own in skill, fitness and intensity.
“I don’t think we could have beaten them. I think the gap ... is simply too big to compete with them at the moment,” he told FIFA.com. after the final.
“They outplayed us throughout the entire match,” he added.
North Korea’s Yu Jong-hyang was the player of the tournament, netting a joint-record eight goals in the finals to take home the Golden Boot award for top scorer and Golden Ball for player of the tournament.
“Our players played the final match wonderfully,” said midfielder Ri Ui-gyong, who scored the third goal in the final.
“All 25 goals were incredible, and we scored them, because our players believed in each other and gave it their all,” Ri said.
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