World Cup flashback: North Korea defeats Italy

North Korea beat Italy. In a World Cup match. Let that sink in for a second.

While most of the world last month was celebrating the 50th anniversary of England defeating Germany at the 1966 World Cup another that match perhaps was more of a shock and carried a bit more weight went unnoticed. Fifty years ago last month North Korea entered a World Cup match against Italy and somehow, some way won the match.

Now a couple of things to bear in mind. First, this was not the modern World Cup where FIFA attempts to be inclusive to countries from all around the world. At the time, just one berth went to teams from Africa, Asia, and OCEANIA/Australia. The tournament was a much smaller tournament than it is now (only 16 teams qualified for the 1966 World Cup) but considering the size of the three Confederations even then that is a very small number.

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Second, this was Italy. Although the Azzurri were still rebuilding from 1949 Superliga Air disaster (in 31 of their 32 players were killed) Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is injured….againthey were expected to contend for the title. During qualification Italy destroyed their competition, outscoring their opponents 17-3 and only losing once (1-0 Scotland near the end of qualification when a spot in the World Cup had been assured).

North Korea had a similar smooth ride to the World Cup except they didn’t have to play actual matches. Originally FIFA had two first round groups for the AFC/CAF/OFC bid: a four team tournament in Japan featuring Australia, North and South Korea, and South Africa and a second group made up of 15 nations from Africa. At the time, South Africa was still under apartheid rule and many African nations would not engage in athletic competitions with them. More on that in a moment.

The path to World Cup 1966 was cleared for North Korea by a series of political events. First, South Africa was banned because of their apartheid laws. Second, South Korea withdrew from the tournament after their group was moved Japan to Cambodia. Finally, all 15 African sides withdrew in protest because they found it unfair that the continent was not given one automatic qualification.

The Chollima, who were coached by Myung Rye-Hyun, would qualify for the tournament after beating Australia in a two-legged series in November of 1965.

The tournament did not exactly start out on the right foot for North Korea. In their first match, the side mostly made up of semi-professionals were crushed by the Soviet Union 3-0. A late goal by Pak Seung-Zin in their second match against Chile kept their hopes of advancing alive. Although had also lost to the Soviets in their second match, they were able to comfortably beat Chile 2-0 in their first match. By all indications they had done enough to qualify for the business end of the 1966 World Cup.

Entering into their third match, the city of Middlesbrough (which had played host to their previous two matches) had taken to the plucky side. In his 2012 piece on the match ESPN FC’s Jon Carter noted in a report during the time that:

"The Chollima played in red, much like their own team, and when Jack Boothby, the town’s mayor, accepted the squad’s gift of an embroidered picture of a crane (the bird), which is now on display in the town’s Dorman Museum, their place was set."

During the match it appeared that the Koreans had been given a bit of a break. Italian captain Giagomo Bulgarelli upset a pre-existing knee injury on a tackle on Pak Seung-Jin. Without any substitutes, the Italians were forced to play with ten men. Despite featuring Gianni Rivera (1969 Ballon d’Or winner) the Azzurri were wounded

That played right into the North Korean’s hands. Just before half-time Pak Doo-Ik had found a gap in the notoriously stingy Italian defense and slotted his shot just well beyond the reach of goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi.