Home > National > North Korea

North Korea claims AFC Women's Champions League crown in South, but prize money in doubt

Published: 23 May. 2026, 17:51

SEO JI-EUN
[email protected]

Naegohyang Women's FC players celebrate after beating Tokyo Verdy Beleza to win the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League title at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on May 23. [NEWS1]

A North Korean football club has won the Asian women's club championship on South Korean soil, with questions already emerging over whether the team will be able to collect its prize money under existing international sanctions.

Naegohyang Women's FC defeated Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan 1-0 in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Champions League final at Suwon Stadium in Gyeonggi on Saturday.

The only goal came in the 44th minute, when captain Kim Kyong-yong converted a cross from Jong Kum with a right-footed finish.

Kim Kyong-yong of Naegohyang Women's FC scores against Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the final of the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on May 23. [YONHAP]

Kim, who had also scored the decisive goal in the semifinal against South Korea's Suwon FC Women on Wednesday, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

After the final whistle, Naegohyang players unfurled the North Korean flag and ran toward the stands before completing a lap of the pitch.

A crowd of 2,600 attended, including a joint cheering section that waved Naegohyang banners and chanted the team's name to the tune of the South Korean national team's signature support song, "Oh, Victory Korea" — adapted as "Oh, Victory Naegohyang."

The joint cheering section, which is to receive up to 300 million won ($197,000) from the inter-Korean cooperation fund administered by the Ministry of Unification, had drawn controversy earlier in the tournament.

During the semifinal against Suwon FC Women, supporters were heard cheering louder when Naegohyang scored against the South Korean side, and some celebrated when Suwon FC Women's Ji So-yun missed a penalty kick.

The AFC Women's Champions League, the continent's top women's club competition, launched officially last season.

Naegohyang became the first North Korean club to win the title, including under the competition's predecessor format.

The visit marks the first time North Korean footballers have come to South Korea since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games — and the first time a North Korean women's club side, as opposed to a national team, has made the trip.

Naegohyang Women's FC players celebrate after beating Tokyo Verdy Beleza to win the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League title at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on May 23. [NEWS1]

Whether Naegohyang will actually receive the tournament's $1 million prize money remains uncertain.

No UN Security Council resolution explicitly restricts sports prize money for North Korean athletes.

However, Resolution 2094, adopted in 2013, prohibits bulk cash transfers to North Korea as part of broader efforts to cut off funding for its nuclear and missile programs.

Subsequent resolutions banned the issuance of work permits to North Korean overseas laborers and required that all North Korean workers earning income abroad be repatriated by the end of December 2019. Whether sports prize money falls within the scope of these measures remains an open legal question.

The issue of prize money and gifts for North Korean athletes at international events has recurred repeatedly.

Japan's football association announced ahead of the 2017 EAFF Women's Championship final that it would withhold the $70,000 prize should North Korea win — which it did.

North Korean athletes did not receive Samsung Galaxy Note 8 phones distributed to all participants at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, nor did they receive Galaxy Z Flip 6 handsets offered at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

The AFC has not commented on whether Naegohyang would be able to receive the prize money.

BY PARK RIN, SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]