North's women's football club chases top Asian title in South

A North Korean women's football club will chase its first title in the top Asian women's club tournament on South Korean soil over the weekend.

Naegohyang Women's FC will face Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan in the final of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi, at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Both Naegohyang and Tokyo are competing in their first Women's Champions League, now in its second season.

Naegohyang rallied past South Korea's Suwon FC Women 2-1 in a semifinal on Wednesday on second-half goals by Choe Kum-ok and Kim Kyong-yong. Earlier in the day, Tokyo Verdy Beleza defeated Melbourne City FC, the 2025 runners-up, by 3-1, with Yuzuho Shiokoshi netting twice and Miharu Shinjo scoring the other.

The champions will take home $1 million, while the runners-up will bag $500,000.

Tokyo defeated Naegohyang 4-0 in their Group C meeting in November of last year, when Myanmar's Yangon served as the centralized venue. Shiokoshi and Shinjo had a goal apiece in that victory, with Moka Hiwatari grabbing a brace.

Shiokoshi, Hiwatari and Kim are tied for second place in goals at this year's tournament with three each.

Naegohyang head coach Ri Yu-il has repeatedly said this week that results from the group stage won't have any bearing on knockout matches, emphasizing that all four semifinalists were capable of winning the title.

While praising his squad for the come-from-behind win over Suwon FC Women, Ri also pointed out that his young team must address some issues, both offensively and defensively.

“We will try our best to play an even better match in the final," he said. "We are still a young team with little experience, and I hope we will use this victory as a stepping stone for the future."

Though Suwon Stadium is a neutral venue for both sides, Naegohyang players will likely have a partisan crowd behind them.

Their match against Suwon FC Women, the first between women's football clubs of the Koreas on South Korean soil, drew about 5,700 fans, many of whom came from South Korean civic groups and cheered for the North Korean side. Suwon FC Women's supporters were outnumbered and their cheers were often drowned out by chants of "Naegohyang."

Yonhap