FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup: North Korea Continue Youth-Level Dominance

The first-ever FIFA tournament held in the Dominican Republic could not have come to a more fitting end. North Korea and Spain, the two most successful teams in Under-17 Women’s World Cup history, squared off for the title in the final on Sunday night.

Spain had won both of the last two editions of the tournament and are the world champions at the senior level, while North Korea have a prolific record across the youth levels and very recently lifted the U-20 Women’s World Cup. Both sides were also on long winning streaks going into the match. North Korea had won each of the 10 competitive matches they played in 2024, but Spain’s run was even better as it stretched back over a year to 18 games.

The two sides did not disappoint on the big stage as they produced a thrilling matchup that was incredibly tightly contested throughout. The Spaniards kept a bit more of the possession, but North Korea were happy to allow that as they defended quite high up the pitch, did not cede territory easily and posed a direct attacking threat.

A relatively quiet first half ended on a somewhat sour note as Choe Il-son–one of the standouts of North Korea’s successful Under-20 Women’s World Cup campaign–had to go off having been plagued by injury issues in the Dominican Republic. The second period produced even more end-to-end action, and the scorekeepers were soon called into action.

Just after the hour mark, Pau Comendador made a telling contribution. Spain’s standout attacker at the tournament received the ball out wide, wrong-footed the defender with a brilliant feint and put a ball into the box which eventually trickled on to Celia Segura, who made no mistake from close range. Barely a couple of minutes later, North Korea equalized through Jon Il-chong who made a clever run across Spain’s back line and rounded the goalkeeper after receiving a through ball.

Fairly presentable chances were created at both ends thereafter, but ultimately both teams seemed content with drawing in regulation time and taking the game to penalties. Spain blinked twice in a string of three consecutive misses after the first round, so it was the North Koreans who ultimately held their nerve and won a record third Under-17 Women’s World Cup title.

The manner of the victory perfectly encapsulated the grit North Korea have shown in the last couple of months. The Under-20s edged out narrow wins in many of their key fixtures, and the Under-17s followed suit with solitary goal wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals over Poland and the United States respectively before the shootout success in the final.

It was equally fitting that Jon Il-chong proved to be their difference-maker on the night, as she was named the tournament’s best player afterwards and awarded the Golden Ball. Spain’s two contributors to the scoresheet had to console themselves with the Silver and Bronze Balls respectively, though they will surely go on to make themselves known at higher levels in the near future.