sports

Pyongyang International Football School is situated on Rungna Islet of the picturesque Taedong River.

It was built under the state’s concern and inaugurated on May 30 2013. All conditions are provided for the study and training by students at primary and senior middle school ages.

There are outdoor training grounds for playing the games at any time and a covered training ground for conducting training without interruption even in snowy or rainy days.

And the school has also a full education system aimed at purposefully conducting basic technical education of young students from the selection of reserves.

At the time of selecting students, the school’s relevant instructors visit different parts of the country to select students with excellent intellectual conditions and physical preparedness and give them strict test.

All those who pass the entrance exam learn the basic football skills again, irrespective of their previous education, and all the students live in the school dormitory to suit its characteristics.

There are two categories of teachers in the school, one is to teach students general basic knowledge and the other is to teach football techniques.

They give lessons by closely combining football and different subjects. For example, they teach in a physics lesson the method of mechanical calculation of the force, which is applied by a flying ball to a fast-running player when he heads it while jumping up, and in a biology lesson the function performed by each muscle of the body at that time. By doing so, they help students acquire the principles of football techniques along with general basic knowledge.

All spaces of the school are oriented to offering football knowledge. Instructors and students have access to up-to-date sports sci-tech data and information about the games of world-renowned teams and aces everywhere, in classrooms, the tactical training room, the e-reading room and bedrooms.

In a word, the school teachers and students are living in the world of football.

The school works hard to put teaching on a higher scientific level.

In close cooperation with researchers, students’ nutrition is managed, fatigue recovered and psychology controlled in a scientific way and training equipment for increasing the accuracy of kicking, passing, heading and stopping of the ball are invented and used, thereby making the training more effective.

The success in the school education can be seen through the competition results of the players produced by the school in the past.

Students produced by the school in the past 10-odd years won trophies in various international football matches according to their age categories and were selected as the best players and several teachers won the best coach prize.

In particular, Choe Il Son and other graduates of the school played a key role in the 2024 U-20 Women's World Cup finals held in Colombia last year, and Choe was awarded the Golden Ball and Golden Boot by scoring six goals during the contest.

"The country has provided all conditions for the development of football, which can be called ‘heavy industry’ and symbol of sports. It is our goal to produce such excellent football talents as Choe Il Son. The gold medals and trophies won by our players will please our people throughout the country and actively encourage socialist construction," said headmaster Ri Kwang Myong.