NORTH KOREA TOP FLIGHT LEAGUE EXAMINED

The top flight league in North Korea was rebranded into the DPR Korea Premier Football League with a home-and-away format some seasons back and it was in its third season in the 2019/20 campaign before Covid-19 struck. The 2019/20 North Korea Premier Football League began in December 2019 but it didn’t end due to Covid-19. The league is yet to resume till date since it was suspended in the opening months of 2020. The league was scheduled to end in October 2020.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4kGUZ7XsAELTPx.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4kGUZ7XsAELTPx.jpg

10 out of the 12 teams in the league had played six games each before the league was suspended. Two teams namely Amnokgang and Sonbong played five games each before Covid-19 struck.

At the time of the suspension of the 2019/20 North Korea Premier Football League, defending champions April 25 were third on the league standings behind Ryomyong and Sobaeksu. April 25 had 14 points from six games and the same number of points with Ryomyong in second place, while Sobaeksuhad one more point than the two teams. Sobaeksu had a record of five victories and one defeatfrom six games.

Ryomyong and holders April 25 are the only teams who didn’t taste defeat in the opening six weeks of the season before the league was suspended.

10 out of the 12 teams had recorded at least a win before Covid-19 struck. Only the bottom two teams didn’t record a win in the first six matches. Bottom team had an identical record with Kyonggong’opsong who are second from bottom on the log. Both Jebi and Kyonggong’opsong drew one and lost five of their six games. Sonbong and Amnokgang were in fourth and fifth spot respectively with ten points each despite playing just five games. The two teams won three, drew one and lost one from their five matches.