The Dutch tried to defeat Korea DPR twice, but it was the same story on both occasions at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2025™. The European champions fell 5-0 in the group stage, before losing 3-0 to their Asian counterparts in the final on Saturday 8 November.
“I don’t think we could have beaten them,” conceded Dutch coach Olivier Amelink following the decider. “I think the gap between Korea DPR and us is simply too big to compete with them at the moment. The previous match was very tricky too, but we were a player down for a long time. That said, it was tough today, even with 11 against 11. They outplayed us throughout the entire match.”
Morocco 2025 will be remembered as a tournament featuring Korea DPR and the rest. While Jon Il-chong and her team-mates didn’t win any knockout matches at Dominican Republic 2024 by more than one goal, the 2025 squad managed to come away with a string of comfortable victories.
“We always say that the match kicks off well before the referee’s whistle blows, with the preparation and mindset,” said coach Pak Song-jin in an interview with FIFA. “When the game started, all of us had dreams, and I think those dreams have now come true. North Korean women’s football has been successful in several international tournaments. We now have four victories to our name, and I believe our winning culture won’t stop there.”
The 25 goals scored by the North Koreans broke the record for goals scored in a single edition of the tournament. However, they were aided by the inclusion of an additional knockout round due to the expansion from 16 to 24 participating nations. To put this into perspective, the 2024 World Champions scored only 14 goals in the Caribbean, averaging 2.33 goals per match. This average rose sharply to 3.57 in Morocco.
Looking at the bigger picture, the North Korean U-17 World Cup champions of 2008 and 2016 took the title after scoring 12 goals during each tournament, averaging two goals per match.
“All 25 goals were incredible, and we scored them because our players believed in each other and gave it their all,” praised midfielder Ri Ui-gyong, who was in sparkling form during the final. “I think our team is excellent and I’m proud of them. I knew we couldn’t be beaten in this match.”
While Ri Ui-gyong, Yu Jong-hyang and Kim Won-sim shared the goalscoring duties and dominated the attack, the 2025 Korea DPR side were equally impressive at the back. They conceded just three goals in the competition. Although that is one more than in the Dominican Republic, it is still a better tally than in their New Zealand 2008 and Jordan 2016 tallies.
Is Pak Song-jin now credited with coaching the best North Korean women’s U-17 team in history? There is no doubt that his players made a lasting impression, both statistically and in terms of how they executed his highly offensive tactics, as they steamrolled their way to victory.
