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Winner of the best player and top scorer awards

Yu Jong Hyang, No. 10 and forward of the DPRK team, won the best player and top scorer awards at the 2026 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup.

Yu, who was born in Phyongsong City, South Phyongan Province, began to play football at the extracurricular sports school of Phyongsong Youth Stadium and improved her skills at Pyongyang International Football School. She now plays at the April 25 Sports Team.

She also won the similar awards at the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup last year.

With fast speed and good at shooting, she distinguished herself once again as an excellent forward making use of her strong points at the recent competition. She scored three hat-tricks by making five goals in the first group league match with the Chinese Taipei team, three in the semi-final with the Chinese team and four in the final with the Japanese team, thus being selected as the best player of the games, and scored 15 goals in total to be the top scorer. 

Winner of the best goalkeeper award

The best goalkeeper prize of the competition was awarded to Kim Son Gyong, No. 1 and goalkeeper of the DPRK team.

Kim Son Gyong, who started to play football in her senior middle school days, acted as a midfielder before becoming a goalkeeper. It is said that at that time she showed her aptitude for goalkeeping like her mother who had acted as a goalkeeper at a sports team. She started training as a goalkeeper later than others, but a year later she began to distinguish herself in domestic games of different categories.

According to People’s Athlete Kim Chol Nam, a coach of the April 25 Sports Team who was in charge of her training in the past, she can play the role of playmaker and protective defender during matches as she has good physical ability and play-making ability and is quick and accurate in kicking.

As a player of the same sports team, she took part in the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup last year to reliably defend the goal of her team. At the recent competition, too, she skilfully handled dangerous balls which might have led to her team losing points, thus drawing the attention of the spectators and contributing to the team’s lifting the trophy.

Chief coach Ji Yun Nam

Chief coach Ji Yun Nam, who led the DPRK team to victory, is a Merited Athlete.

During his playing career, he played as No. 8 and left defender of the national football team. He left a deep impression on the audience for an excellent goal he made singlehandedly by driving the ball to shoot in the group league match with the Brazilian team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

After being appointed as a coach of the sports team, he led group A of its women’s football team to rank as the strongest in almost all domestic games.

During the recent competition, he, as the chief coach of the DPRK team, made all coaches and players pool their efforts and minds for victory and paid special attention to data analysis, tactical study and the mental control of the players. Throughout the competition, he skilfully guided matches according to their ever-changing situations to enable them to constantly ensure a high speed of attack in every match and thus record signal victories in succession.