After stoic Suwon visit, North's women footballers are all smiles in return to Pyongyang — in pictures

Published May 27, 2026 - 4:17 p.m.

Players of the Naegohyang Women’s FC walk through a cheering crowd with flowers in Pyongyang on May 26 after winning the AFC Women’s Champions League. [NEWS1] — Players of the Naegohyang Women’s FC walk through a cheering crowd with flowers in Pyongyang on May 26 after winning the AFC Women’s Champions League.

North Korea's Naegohyang Women’s FC returned home to a hero's welcome in Pyongyang on Tuesday after winning the AFC Women's Champions League (AWCL).

According to state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday, the team was greeted at Pyongyang International Airport by government officials, sports administrators and the players' families at a celebration ceremony. The team then boarded flower-decorated buses for a victory parade through the capital, passing through major thoroughfares as crowds of citizens turned out to cheer them on.

Naegohyang came to South Korea on May 17 to compete in the semifinals and finals of the AWCL in Suwon, Gyeonggi. The team defeated South Korea’s Suwon FC Women 2-1 on May 20 and then claimed the championship with a 1-0 victory over Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza on Saturday.

Contrary to their jovial mood at home, the players had largely maintained stoic facades while in South Korea. They did not respond to cheers organized by Korean civic groups, and after winning the final, they did not grant any interviews to the assembled media. Coach Ri Yu-il also walked out of the post-match press conference halfway through after a reporter referred to the team as “the North side.”

A North Korean man holds up a baby to the players of the Naegohyang Women’s FC inside a bus in Pyongyang on May 26. [NEWS1] — A North Korean man holds up a baby to the players of the Naegohyang Women’s FC inside a bus in Pyongyang on May 26.

Back home, however, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photographs of smiling players receiving bouquets of flowers at Pyongyang Airport. Another image showed a player beaming at a baby held up toward their bus by a citizen during the parade.

The paper praised the team effusively, noting it had scored 36 goals across nine matches to claim the title, and calling the players "proud daughters of the motherland who once again powerfully displayed the spirit and mettle of the Korean people with back-to-back victories in the semifinals and final." It added that the team had "displayed the dignity of Juche Korea and proudly flew our republic's flag with the gold medal of victory." Juche is North Korea’s official state ideology. Often translated as “self-reliance,” it emphasizes political, economic and military independence.

Notably, the state media reports made no mention of the fact that the semifinals and final had been held in South Korea.