sports

The second-round matches of the 2025-2026 DPRK men's and women's premier leagues began on May 10.

The first match was held between men’s April 25 and Sobaeksu teams at Kim Il Sung Stadium.

As it was a game between powerful teams in the country, experts and fans paid special attention to it.

The April 25 Team was placed first and the Sobaeksu Team fourth in the first-round matches.

April 25 lifted the winner’s trophy at the 2024-2025 DPRK Premier League, with Sobaeksu finishing runner-up. 

In light of the results of the past games, most fans predicted that the April 25 Team would win.

Meanwhile, analyzing the results of the men’s first-division soccer tournament at the 2026 Spring National Sports Festival, experts said that the match’s result cannot be predicted.

At the festival which was held after the first-round matches finished, April 25 failed to advance to the semifinals of the first-division football competition whereas Sobaeksu was included in the top three. 

The match began with April 25’s kick-off.

April 25 ran the match with 4-2-3-1 formation, and Sobaeksu with 4-4-2 formation.

It was Sobaeksu that netted the first goal in the fierce seesaw battle from the beginning. 

The team, which attempted sudden counterattack while checking the offence by April 25 with tight man-to-man and zone defence, scored the opening goal in the 20th minute.

Later it pressurized April 25 with stubborn defence and positive tackles of forwards from the midfield and won another goal in the 56th minute. 

April 25, which was doing its best to reverse the tide of the game, got a goal with strong offence after a few minutes.

Sobaeksu did not lose its rhythm and combined the tactics applied previously with off-side tactic, so that it did not allow April 25 to net another goal and launched positive sudden counterattack. 

Finally, April 25 failed to make up for the loss until the stoppage-time of the second half, and the match ended with the Sobaeksu’s 2-1 win over April 25.

People said that the future games of Sobaeksu, which won the victory exceeding their expectations, would be more interesting.