Rare South-North Korea football match sells out in 12 hours

Choe Yon-A (L) of Naegohyang Women's FC in action last year in Yangon (Sai Aung MAIN)

(Sai Aung MAIN/AFP/AFP)

Tickets in South Korea for a rare match against a visiting North Korean team sold out within half a day, Seoul's football association told AFP on Friday.

All 7,087 general admission tickets for the game on May 20 between home side Suwon FC Women and Naegohyang Women's FC were snapped up within about 12 hours of going on sale on Tuesday, an official from the Korea Football Association said.

The two sides meet in the semi-finals of the Women's Asian Champions League in the city of Suwon, about 35 kilometres (20 miles) south of Seoul.

It will be the first time that a sports team from isolated and nuclear-armed North Korea has played in the neighbouring South since 2018.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

As the Champions League is a club competition, national flags and anthems will not be used during the match, local reports said.

There will be no away supporters because North Koreans are generally not allowed into the South.

Seoul's unification ministry said it will provide 300 million won ($200,000) to support South Korean civic groups planning to cheer both teams at the match.

The Naegohyang squad are set to arrive in South Korea on Sunday by air from Beijing.

The winner of the semi-final will advance to the final of Asia's top women's club competition in Suwon on May 23, against either Australia's Melbourne City or Japan's Tokyo Verdy Beleza.

North Korea are traditionally strong in women's football, especially at youth level, where they have won multiple World Cups in recent years.

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