North Korea at the AFC Asian Cup

North Korea has participated in five AFC Asian Cup and finished in fourth place, their best performance to date, during their maiden appearance in 1980.

However, unlike their Southern neighbor, North Korea often struggles to have the best performances, due to poor quality of the national team and their squad, as well as outside sanctions on the nation for its repressive nature. North Korea, after their 1980 appearance, would have to wait for 12 years for their next qualification, and they made further tournament appearances in the 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions. North Korea has not won an Asian Cup match since 1980, a drought of nearly 40 years.

Squads[]

1980 Asian Cup[]

Group A[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	4	2	2	0	12	4	+8	6
North Korea	4	3	0	1	9	7	+2	6
Syria	4	2	1	1	3	2	+1	5
China PR	4	1	1	2	9	5	+4	3
Bangladesh	4	0	0	4	2	17	−15	0

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Semi-finals[]

Third place play-off[]

1992 Asian Cup[]

Group A[]

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Japan	5	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1
United Arab Emirates	5	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1
Iran	4	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1
North Korea	1	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3

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2011 Asian Cup[]

Group D[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	3	3	0	0	6	1	+5	9
Iraq	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
North Korea	3	0	1	2	0	2	−2	1
United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1

11 January 2011
North Korea	0–0	United Arab Emirates
15 January 2011
Iran	1–0	North Korea
19 January 2011
Iraq	1–0[1]	North Korea

2015 Asian Cup[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China PR	3	3	0	0	5	2	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3
4	North Korea	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5	0

10 January 2015
Uzbekistan	1–0	North Korea	Stadium Australia, Sydney
14 January 2015
North Korea	1–4	Saudi Arabia	AAMI Park, Melbourne
18 January 2015
China PR	2–1	North Korea	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

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2019 Asian Cup[]

Group E[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
3	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	North Korea	3	0	0	3	1	14	−13	0

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Record[]

AFC Asian Cup finals record										AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1956	Did not enter									Did not enter
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976	Withdrew after qualifying									5	3	1	1	7	4
1980	Fourth place	4th	6	3	0	3	10	12		2	1	1	0	4	2
1984	Did not enter									Did not enter
1988	Did not qualify									4	2	1	1	3	2
1992	Group stage	8th	3	0	1	2	2	5		3	2	1	0	8	0
1996	Did not enter									Did not enter
2000	Did not qualify									3	2	1	0	11	7
2004										8	1	2	5	3	15
2007	Banned									Banned
2011	Group stage	12th	3	0	1	2	0	2		Qualified as 2010 AFC Challenge Cup winners
2015	Group stage	13th	3	0	0	3	2	7		Qualified as 2012 AFC Challenge Cup winners
2019	Group stage	24th	3	0	0	3	1	14		14	8	3	3	27	18
2023	Withdrew[3]									Withdrew
Total	Fourth place	5/18	18	3	2	13	15	40		39	19	10	10	63	48

References[]