North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success.
They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3.
It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September.
Photo: AFP
Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the plane approached the arrivals gate.
Beaming players and their families celebrated together, with one mother — wearing a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress — telling her soccer-playing daughter: “You worked so hard.”
“It was the desire and honor of our team to give the respected fatherly Marshal Kim Jong-un the report of pleasure and victory,” said Jon Il-chong, who won the Golden Ball for best player at the U17 World Cup.
Photo: AFP
“I will train harder and harder in the future so that I will demonstrate the honor of North Korea throughout the world,” added Jon, who scored the vital 66th-minute equalizer against Spain that took the game to penalties.
Thanking the ruling Kim family and using sports achievements as a means to raise the national profile is a tradition for North Korean athletes and their families after notable victories.
“I will continue to fulfil my responsibility as a mother to make my daughter a world-class soccer player and wave the national flag in the sky in triumph,” Jon’s mother, Kim Yong-sil, told reporters.
Photo: AFP
The victorious squad rode in the back of an open truck decorated with flowers and painted with the North Korean flag through the city as they waved to people on the streets. Some people approached the vehicle to shake hands, with some men in military uniform saluting as the players passed.
While the men’s soccer team are ranked at 111th in the world, their female counterparts have won two youth World Cups in two months.
State media proclaimed that the country’s teenage players were “the attention of football experts, fans and spectators across the world” after the U17 triumph.
North Korea have qualified for the Women’s World Cup four times, reaching the quarter-finals in 2007. They are ranked ninth in the world.
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