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    Fans claim former Juventus star who went missing for THREE years after Covid pandemic has resurfaced in North Korea

    NORTH KOREAN star Han Kwang-song has resurfaced after going missing for three years after the Covid-19 pandemic.The former Juventus star was spotted representing North Korea in an international friendly against Japan in Tokyo this week.Han Kwang-song has been spotted playing again after he went missing for three yearsCredit: AlamyHan played in an international friendly against Japan in TokyoCredit: AFPMoving to Italy to follow his dreams of becoming a professional footballer when he was 16, Han scored his first Serie A goal when he was 18 for Cagliari.Juventus were quick to snatch the forward who was certain to have a glittering career in Europe and represent his nation internationally.But his country being the most secretive and repressive – North Korea – this has limited the stars success.And led Han to be caught up in Kim Jong Un’s geopolitics during the pandemic which led to Han disappearing for three years.READ MORE IN FOOTBALLNow 25 Han has resurfaced and has been spotted playing football again.Eagled-eyed fans spotted Han playing in a World Cup qualifier against Syria back in November.And days later the striker scored as North Korea demolished Myanmar 6-1.This week supporters saw Han again on the pitch in North Korea’s 1-0 defeat to Japan in another World Cup qualifier in Tokyo. Most read in FootballBEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERThe two nations meet in the reverse fixture in North Korea on Tuesday.  Born Pyongyang in 1998 Han was one of the lucky few to leave North Korea due to his footballing talent.South Korea stages explosive military drills in response to Kim Jong Un’s ballistic missile testsSupreme leader Kim Jong Un loves sport particularity basketball and football and sends North Korean athletes abroad as a tactic of soft power.Han was apart of the Pyongyang International Football School that takes on 200 aspiring youngster every year.Kim Jong Un is known to be a fan of basketball and footballCredit: AFPMove to JuventusIt quickly became apparent Han would be able to make it professionally and even received interest from Liverpool and Manchester City.Instead, he joined the academy at Cagliari, becoming only the second North Korean player to sign for a Serie A club after Choe Song-hyok a year earlier.He shinned in Italian side and moved very quickly into the senior team.Han became the first North Korean to compete in the Serie A and score after he netted a 95th minute goal against Joe Hart  in a 3–2 away defeat to Torino.There was suspicion where his salary was going to as Kim Jong Un was known to send citizens abroad to fund the North Korea regime.But Cagliari decide to hand the youngster his first professional contract in 2017.Han spent two loan spells with Perugia in Serie B, scoring a handful of goals, and then played 20 times in 2019-20 for the Juventus under-23 side in Serie C.Han was spent half of the 2019-20 season on loan at JuventusCredit: AlamyTransfer to QatarHis tenure at Juventus was was short-lived and in January 2020, he was transferred to the Qatari team Al-Duhail. But due to North Korea’s ballistic missle test he United Nations Security Council [UNSC] demanded North Korean nationals working abroad to be deported by the end of 2019.There were assumptions citizens working overseas from earning foreign currency to fund Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.But this did not hinder Han’s move to Al-Duhail in 2020.He scored five goals in 16 matches was key in Al-Duhail securing the 2019-20 Qatar Stars League title, marking the first major trophy of his professional career.However this was the last time he was seen prior to his international comeback.Where did Han disappear to?Due to the sanctions imposed on North Korea, the Qatari club had no choice but to cancel Han’s contract and deport him from the country.During the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea implemented an extremely strict lockdown, prohibiting entry to anyone, including its own citizens residing abroad.Forced to leave Qatar yet barred from returning to his homeland, Han boarded a flight from Doha to Rome on January 26, 2021.From this point, his whereabouts became unknown despite the football leagues resuming after the pandemic, Han was not active on any team.READ MORE SUN STORIESReports suggested that Han was living with other North Korean nationals who were similarly stranded, housed in an embassy in Europe, waiting for their country’s borders to reopen.Han remained out of the public eye until last November, when he made a sudden reappearance during a World Cup qualifier against Syria in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Han made a sudden reappearance during a World Cup qualifier against Syria in NovemberCredit: Getty More

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    Billionaire ex-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich LOSES bid to overturn sanctions slapped on him ‘for funding Putin’s war’

    RUSSIAN oligarch Roman Abramovich has lost an appeal against the EU’s decision to freeze his funds over links to tyrant Vladimir Putin.The ex-Chelsea FC owner, 57, has been slapped with sanctions from the UK and the EU but has previously denied any financial relationship with despot Putin.
    Russian oligarch and ex-Chelsea owner Roman AbramovichCredit: Getty
    The billionaire is a pal of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin (pictured together)Credit: Alamy
    Abramovich sold Chelsea football club in 2022 as a result of UK sanctions against Russian assets in the countryCredit: Alamy
    Abramovich is one of the richest people in Russia and is one of many powerful players in the country to be sanctioned since Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
    The EU also rejected his plea for compensation over damage to his reputation for £865,000 in a double blow for the oligarch.
    The ruling said on Wednesday that Abramovich is a majority shareholder in major steel and mining company Evraz, which gives “a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Government”.
    He has, as a result, benefited from decisions made by those in power who are responsible for the brutal conflict in Ukraine.
    READ MORE ON ABRAMOVICH
    Almost 1,800 individuals and entities such as companies or organisations have been slapped with sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine – beginning with Crimea in 2014.
    Abramovich was appealing against the inclusion of his name in the group of those sanctioned for their activities that finance the Russian government.
    The EU court said today that his inclusion was correct and it does not result in an “unjustified and disproportionate infringement of his fundamental rights”.
    They have targeted banks, companies, markets and the energy sector.
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    Over 1,000 Russian officials have been subject to asset freezing and travel bans alongside the former Chelsea owner.
    The oligarch, who was accused of supplying steel for Russian tanks, has repeatedly downplayed his relationship with Putin.
    He has challenged suggestions of a close financial relationship or that he has acted on behalf of the Russian president.
    When he sold Chelsea FC in 2022, he said: “I would like to address the speculation in media over the past few days in relation to my ownership of Chelsea FC.
    “As I have stated before, I have always taken decisions with the Club’s best interest at heart.
    “In the current situation, I have therefore taken the decision to sell the Club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the Club, the fans, the employees, as well as the Club’s sponsors and partners.
    “The sale of the Club will not be fast-tracked but will follow due process. I will not be asking for any loans to be repaid. This has never been about business nor money for me, but about pure passion for the game and Club.”
    The Russian said at the time that his team would set up a charitable foundation, with all proceeds of the sale donated.
    He said: “All money raised will benefit all victims of the war in Ukraine.
    “This includes providing critical funds towards the urgent and immediate needs of victims, as well as supporting the long-term work of recovery.”
    Read more on The Sun
    Just days ago the Wall Street Journal reported that the billions of pounds pledged to victims of Putin’s war remain frozen in a UK bank account.
    Abravomich also holds Portuguese and Israeli citizenship and Forbes puts his net worth at an estimate of £7.2 billion. More

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    Chelsea legend Shevchenko made advisor to Ukraine war leader Zelensky – while Putin cosies up to ex club boss Abramovich

    CHELSEA legend Andriy Shevchenko has been promoted to an aide to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, while his former Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich gets closer to warmonger Vladimir Putin.The Ukrainian footballer previously said the relationship with his former Chelsea boss would “never be the same again” following Russia’s invasion into his home country.
    The Ukrainian footy legend has been supporting his home country since February 24Credit: Rex
    Abramovich has been by Putin’s side since the war beganCredit: Getty
    Shevchenko is one of many famous Ukrainians now acting in an official capacityCredit: Instagram @u24.gov.ua
    In a written decree, Zelensky’s office said: “Andriy Shevchenko is appointed advisor to the President of Ukraine (out of state).”
    No details have emerged about the nature of his role, but Shevchenko has been outspoken in support for his homeland as it continues to battle off the Russian invasion.
    In May 2022, the Ukrainian footy legend was named an ambassador for Ukraine’s UNITED25 fundraising platform, which has raised millions to aide in the rebuilding of Ukraine.
    Since the invasion began, Shevchenko has focused on carrying out his patriotic duties as he looks for peace and helps his compatriots flee war-torn Ukraine.
    READ MORE IN SPORT
    Abramovich, on the other hand, has been slapped with sanctions by the UK government due to his alleged ties with Putin.
    Shevchenko and former boss Abramovich had a “long relationship” in the football world before the conflict between their home countries tore them apart.
    Shevchenko formerly said: “I said from the beginning, I did not believe that this (war) could happen.
    “Abramovich and I had a long relationship and I don’t think it will ever be the same. But I also know there are a lot of Russian people who want to stop the war.
    Most read in Football
    Only days ago, Russian State Media was banned from criticising billionaire Abramovich, who had taken part in “negotiations” bwteen Russia and Ukraine early in the war.
    Independent media The Moscow Times indicated that Abramovich would not normally be beyond criticism from Russia’s anti-Western state media. 
    They said: “A year ago, he participated in negotiations that ended unsuccessfully for Russia.”
    Abramovich is known to maintain solid relations with Putin despite obtaining Israeli citizenship and living mainly outside his homeland.
    Soviet-born Abramovich is one of Russia’s richest men, and earlier served as a Putin-loyal governor for the far-flung Chukotka region. 
    The reason for the diktat on Abramovich are unknown, but the former footy boss has continued to live a lavish life even while under sanctions.
    Other sports stars have become involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict: Arsenal star Oleg Luzhny returned to Ukraine to fight on the frontline.
    Boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko also enlisted to help the heroic defensive effort by Ukraine.
    Recently retired tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2013, has also enlisted aged 36.
    Abramovich has been close with Putin for decadesCredit: AFP More

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    Mystery as missing North Korean footballer dubbed The People’s Ronaldo ‘REAPPEARS’… but it could spell tragedy

    A FOOTBALLER dubbed The People’s Cristiano Ronaldo has mysteriously “reappeared” after vanishing from the spotlight years ago.Former Juventus striker Han Kwang-song reportedly left Italy last month and returned to his native North Korea – but he might not have the warmest welcome back.
    Former Juventus striker Han Kwang-song, from North Korea, mysteriously ‘reappeared’Credit: Getty
    The 24-year-old reportedly left Italy last month and returned to his homelandCredit: Getty
    Han’s return could spell tragedy as he re-enters Kim Jong-un’s ruthless regimeCredit: Getty
    On Tuesday, sports expert Marco Bagozzi updated Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the Pyongyang-born’s latest whereabouts.
    “I recently spoke with Han Kwang-song’s close friend in Italy and he confirmed that he left mid-August,” he said.
    Marco added that Han’s Facebook Messenger account has been “unusable” ever since.
    Another source, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Asian news outlet that the footballer had left for Beijing in August and returned to his homeland with fellow North Korean residents.
    Read more on Han Kwang-Song
    The insider claims that on August 22, Han was one of 200 North Korean passengers returning from China in a state-owned Air Koryo flight.
    Jorn Andersen, who coached the North Korean national team, also told RFA: “He has not been in contact with me since last year.”
    The 24-year-old’s enigmatic “comeback” could spell some tragedy as Han re-enters Kim Jong-un’s ruthless regime.
    The promising striker could likely be deemed as a North Korean “defector”, meaning he could face harsh interrogation, a prison camp sentence, or worse – the capital punishment.
    Most read in Football
    Lee Hyun-seung, a North Korean defector currently residing in the US, told Radio Free Asia that overseas workers or civil servants would be subjected to months-long political ideological training once back to their homeland.
    “When the border is opened and overseas civil servants and worker re-enter North Korea, there is a high probability that these people will receive intensive ideological training from various Government bodies for at least three months,” he said.
    “These include units of the Organization and Guidance Department, Propaganda and Agitation Department, State Security Department, and Party cells.”
    Han’s trip to Rome from Doha in 2021 was his last known journey, CNN reports.
    That same year, Han was accused of breaching UN sanctions as he may had been funnelling his £20k-a-week wage to Kim’s nuke programme, experts believe.
    Han, the first North Korean to score in Serie A, was considered a promising young talent and was previously linked with big money moves to Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton.
    But Al-Duhail released him from the multi-million-pound contract he signed in 2020 amid a sanctions-busting probe by UN officials.
    Athletes are not exempt from international rules that stop North Koreans earning money overseas in case it goes to fund Kim’s nuclear programme.
    Experts told The Sun it is likely Han would have been forced to send most of his hefty pay packet back to the North Korean regime – which would have been in a blatant breach of UN sanctions.
    The promising striker could likely be deemed as a North Korean ‘defector’Credit: Getty
    Han could face harsh interrogation, a prison camp sentence, or capital punishmentCredit: Getty More

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    World’s biggest stadium twice the size of Wembley with 200k seats left to rust after hosting mega wrestling show

    THE WORLD’S biggest stadium is twice the size of Wembley with 200,000 seats – and yet is barely used. North Korea is home to the astonishing Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, located in Pyongyang
    The Rungrado 1st of May Stadium has been left to the elements after it opened in 1989Credit: Alamy
    The 242,000 sq ft pitch once hosted a mega wrestling show on its grounds that broke global attendance recordsCredit: Alamy
    The arches of the stadium peak at over 200ft above the groundCredit: Alamy
    It first opened its doors in 1989 – and stadium of its scale you expect to be hosting massive shows and sporting events seen around the world.
    And yet despite standing for more than 40 years, most of the time it sits gathering dust.
    Most of those who file through its doors when it is used are also not there by choice, often being press-ganged by the North Korean state.
    Footage from inside the stadium is often eerie as thousands upon thousands of people pack the venue to the rafters.
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    North Korea use it for their biggest showcases to the rest of the world – but most of the time it sits in silence.
    The stadium was for years left to rust until Kim Jong-un decided to refurbish it in 2015.
    It was given a lick of paint and all 1,300 of its rooms were renovated.
    But it is only known outside of North Korea to have been used for a handful of large scale events since then.
    Most read in Football
    The impressive stadium has 16 arches in the scalloped roof which covers the massive 242,000 sq ft pitch below.
    Its total floor space is over 2,230,000 sq ft which spans eight stories, as the roof peaks at more than 200ft above the ground.
    The May Day Arena has capacity for up to 200,000 seats, outshining the UK’s Wembley Arena which can only hold up to 90,000 people.
    The stadium was built after the 1988 Summer Olympics had been awarded to Seoul and North Korea pushed to present itself as the legitimate Korean state.
    During this period, North Korea hosted the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students which was the reason behind the building of the Rungrado stadium.
    At the time of completion, it was the largest stadium ever built in Asia.
    Its giant capacity has even seen the stadium break attendance records.
    In 1995 the arena hosted 350,000 spectators for the wrestling event “Collision in Korea”, which was a world attendance record.
    The mega wrestling show saw the likes of 16-time world champion Ric Flair, the man with the “largest arms in the world” Scott Steiner, a tag team legend Road Warrior Hawk, and even boxing icon Muhammad Ali.
    The show was a joint venture between World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling and made history when it took over the May Day Stadium.
    The top wrestlers performed two nights in front of 350,000 “fans” – who Eric Bischoff, the man behind WCW, believes were told to come along by Kim Jong-un’s dad in a giant publicity stunt promoted as a “peace festival”.
    Bischoff told The Daily Star that the sheer size of the show was “mind-boggling”.
    But he added: “These were not fans who bought tickets, these were fans who had been required to go by the North Korean government.
    “While it was great to see all the people there, we knew they were not there because they chose to be there – and even if they knew who anybody was.”
    And despite the event’s immense size, it has never been placed on the WWE’s subscription streaming service the WWE Network.
    Following the largest professional wrestling pay-per-view event ever, the stadium was later used in 2002 as the site of the giant Arirang Festival gymnastic and artistic performance.
    The extravaganza involved over 100,000 participants—double the number of spectators, and was open to foreigners.
    After the stadium closed its doors for a renovation project in 2013, it reopened in 2015 before hosting six group-stage matches as part of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification in 2017.
    The May Day arena was used again in the  September 2018 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang where President Moon Jae-in of South Korea gave a speech with Chairman Kim Jong-un to 150,000 North Korean spectators.
    In July 2019, Kim Jong-un hosted Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping at the stadium for a special gymnastics and artistic performance called “invincible socialism”.
    It was finally used in December 2022 to host a concert commemorating New Year’s Eve, which was presided over by Kim Jong-un.
    But now, the super-sized arena has been left to the elements as it is barely touched at all, leaving behind a creepy history of filled seats of crowds that once would have been forced to attend shows and games.
    The massive stadium eerily stands in the city, waiting to be used what seems only once every few years.
    The stadium is currently used for small-time football matches, a few athletic events, and most often the games of the Arirang Festival.
    Although it remains just a shell of the majestic building it once was, May Stadium still holds the crown for the world’s biggest stadium, according to the Olympics.
    In second place is The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, which has notably hosted the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cups.
    Read More on The Sun
    The third spot belongs to the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which has a capacity of up to 107,000.
    It comes as a football stadium larger than Wembley was spotted lying abandoned with cranes still looming over the unfinished stands in Guangzhou, China.
    Once a buzzing stadium in North Korea, the grounds are only used for small athletic events and football matches nowCredit: AFP
    In 1995 the arena hosted 350,000 spectators for the wrestling event ‘Collision in Korea’Credit: Getty More

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    Man Utd superfan Kim Jong-un set to tune in for FA Cup – along with thousands of North Koreans who love English football

    KIM Jong-un is preparing to watch his beloved Manchester United take on Brighton in the FA Cup – along with a surprising number of his fellow citizens.The tyrant revealed his fondness for the Red Devils to a visiting western politician and reportedly never misses a game or a major football tournament.
    Football fan Kim Jong-un seen at a match with his daughterCredit: Credit: Pen News
    The dictator will be tuning into to see if Marcus Rashford can fire Utd to FA Cup gloryCredit: Getty
    His team will be battling it out with Brighton at Wembley
    One of Kim’s lavish properties in the North Korean capital PyongyangCredit: Getty – Contributor
    A picture of Kim Jong-un at boarding school, where he formed his love of footballCredit: AFP
    Wembley will packed with 90,000 Man Utd and Brighton fans for the FA Cup semi-final – but 5300 miles away Kim will likely be tuning in on a giant screen in one of his many palaces to watch the game.
    Kim rules North Korea with a rod of iron with the lives of its 25 million citizens carefully controlled and its isolation as well as hostility to the outside world has earned it the nickname the “Hermit Kingdom”.
    Smuggling in videos of foreign films and TV programmes can lead to execution while even letting kids watch them can result in parents being sent to hellhole prison camps.
    But one of the foreign influences has managed to seep through the tiny cracks from the outside world into North Korea – is the Premier League.
    READ MORE ON NORTH KOREA
    Experts told The Sun Online that incredibly the ruthless regime manages to get hold of Premier League games & other fixtures before actually broadcasting them on TV.
    But the games are shown on an up to four week delay – so meaning whoever wins today, the North Koreans won’t find out until we are just days away from the FA Cup Final.
    Martyn Williams, a researcher who monitors North Korean TV, explained that state-run broadcasts actually show sports everyday – many of them from the West, including the football from England.
    And meanwhile, North Korea expert Jean Lee, from the Wilson Center think tank, said North Koreans have an affinity with English football due to the national team’s success in 1966.
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    It is unclear how the North Koreans get hold of the tightly controlled broadcasts – but Kim’s regime is known for smuggling in any goods they can’t get their hands on due to sanctions.
    So it’s likely dodgy broadcasts of sports are likely the same – with North Korean market vendors also understood to
    Kim himself seems to be leading the way with his guilty pleasure, if the word of Italian politician Antonio Razzi is to be believed.
    Razzi is a friend of the crackpot dictator and confirmed to The Sun that Kim told him during private conversations that he’s a huge fan of Man Utd.
    The Italian Senator is a controversial and eccentric figure in Italian politics, who has become well-known in his homeland mainly due to his close friendship with Kim.
    It certainly seems that there’s knowledge of football and the big teams are well known.Martyn Williams
    While the idea of Kim being a football fan might at first glance seem at odds with the way he runs the country, a deeper look into his background reveals it might
    Ordinary North Koreans themselves may remain bottled in but for the country’s elite it’s a different story.
    As the son of North Korea’s former leader Kim Jong-il, from whom he inherited the position, he was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland.
    Whilst there he fell in love with western sports including football and basketball with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls vying with Man Utd for his affection.
    He even struck up a bizarre friendship with basketball star Dennis Rodman, who has visited North Korea several times.
    The chubby chain smoker may himself not be the finest athletic specimen but it seems his love of the beautiful game has opened the door for North Koreans to share his passion.
    Not only are they seemingly mad about the Premier League but North Korea’s national side has a proud tradition, getting to the quarter final in 1966.
    And occasionally their players do break through, with one being the North Korean “Ronaldo” Han Kwang-song.
    He played for Juventus – and was even linked to big money moves to Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton – before being forced back home due to sanctions.
    But reportedly being from an ordinary background in North Korea – he revealed how closed off the normal population is, with him allegedly admitted to a Liverpool scout he had never heard of Steven Gerrard.
    Han may not have heard of Stevie G but for many North Koreans, Premier League players are as familiar to them as they are to us.
    Mr Williams, who studies North Korean TV, said every citizen will have access to Premier League games and other football.
    Williams explained that there’s one TV channel across North Korea.
    It used to broadcast from 3-11pm but increased those hours from 9am to 11am, with a lot of that time filled showing football matches, he said.
    “North Korea bans all outside media so people don’t have satellite dishes which means they’re restricted to what’s on state television,” said Williams, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center foreign affairs think tank.
    “Since the beginning of the pandemic it has been showing one sporting event a day, usually the Premier League or one of the European leagues.
    “It’s on a delay and it’s usually lightly edited and runs to about an hour or more so it’s not the entire game but it’s most of the game.”
    On the day he talked to The Sun Online he said North Korean TV was showing highlights of Liverpool against Real Madrid from March 15.
    As for the FA Cup semi-final “there’s certainly a chance that it will be on North Korean TV though we’re talking in three or four weeks”.
    “What you have to remember is that because North Korea is so closed off, if you missed the match this weekend you’re going to hear about it, but people there won’t know the score, even if it’s a month late.
    “There’s such a clampdown on information coming into the country, that information doesn’t really matter that much.”
    He also said North Korea even has state approved football bloggers who interview fans.
    “So it certainly seems that there’s knowledge of football and the big teams are well known.”
    But while ordinary people face restrictions Williams said: “Kim Jong-un is a law unto himself and while certainly be able to watch the game if he wants to.”
    North Korea expert Jean Lee, from the Wilson Center think tank, explained the deep links between North Korea and football in England.
    “They are huge fans of Premier League teams and soccer is a hugely popular sport in the country,” she said.
    “Those players from 1966 were huge stars and they made North Korea look so good by reaching the quarter finals.
    “It introduced to North Koreans that they could be proud of their country through sport.”
    Foreign football was first introduced to the country via recorded games being sold on DVD, she explained.

    These could then be bought for a “small fee” and then watched at home.
    “Do the regime decided it was ok for them to have a passion for international football.”
    North Korea’s 1966 Glory & DownfallIT was one of the biggest upsets in the history of football as isolated and war-damaged North Korea knocked European powerhouse Italy out of the 1966 World Cup.
    “The fall of the Roman Empire had nothing on this,” reported one British newspaper as Kim’s XI edged a victory over the title contenders 1-0 in Middlesbrough.
    It was one of the most incredible stories on the pitch, but it is claimed to have been followed by one of the most horrifying twists off the field in the history of the World Cup.
    North Korea became the first Asian team in history to progress beyond the first round just 13 years after the end of the bloody and devastating Korean War.
    And while their glorious victory should have been as celebrated as England winning the 1966 title in the final tie against Germany – it is claimed they did not return as heroes.
    Instead the brutal regime are claimed to have savagely punished their players for bringing shame on the country after being knocked out in their next game 5-3 against Portugal.
    It is claimed the the team had gone out drinking two nights before their match – which impacted their performance.
    And these actions were deemed as “decadence” and not becoming of one representing the Dear Leader.
    Members of the team are claimed to have returned to Pyongyang facing damnation – being sent to the gulags of Kim’s grandfather, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung.
    It is a claim which has been disputed over the years – dismissed by some as “Cold War propaganda”.
    Surviving members of the team in North Korea have publicly denied they were banged up in the camps and claim they were still celebrated.
    But respected North Korea defector and journalist Kang Chol-hwan claims first-hand in his book The Aquariums of Pyongyang that he met one of the players in the infamous gulag Yodok.
    Kang claims all thoughts of their 1966 football glory had faded – and the entire team aside from Pak Doo-ik, who scored the winner against Italy, had been sent to concentration camps.
    He says they were subject to decades of torture and starvation.
    But their glory and downfall saw Middlesbrough really get behind the North Koreans.
    The town took the little known team to their hearts with a connection that persists to this day – and even saw surviving members of team visit in 2002. More

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    Russia must be stopped from forcing their way back into football and all sport until Putin ends massacre in Ukraine

    RUSSIA must be stopped from forcing their way back into football — simple as that.Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine invalidates a return to humanity and should do so until he removes the troops he unleashed a year ago, who are still causing massive loss of life.
    Putin’s invasion of Ukraine means Russia must stay in the sporting wildernessCredit: AFP
    Gianni Infantino has displayed worrying signs he might let Russia back inCredit: Reuters
    For football fields, read killing fields. Any government with even a glimmer of morality must support Ukraine and their courageous people.
    That goes for all sport. Yet Fifa president Gianni Infantino is showing signs of relenting, while rogue states such as Syria and Iran are cuddling up to the Kremlin.
    Even more embarrassingly, Uefa are also said to be considering lifting the suspension, although Russia were not included in the current Euro qualifiers.
    Maybe both bodies are looking forward to the conclusion of the war, an eventuality that doesn’t seem to have affected Russian considerations so far, and certainly hasn’t Ukraine’s.
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    Why should it? The massacres in Ukraine make nonsense of the late Liverpool manager Bill Shankly’s dry half-joke that people think football much more serious than life and death.
    Five of the Stans of central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — once possessions of the Russian empire — have already agreed to play their former landlords.
    The whole quintet are in arid, just-about-inhabitable lands so no wonder the Russians weren’t too bothered about handing them independence.
    Like them, Syria and Iran are in Fifa.
    Most read in Football
    Indeed, Iran beat Syria in the qualifying rounds for the Qatar World Cup, in which Iran played.
    Fifa have to juggle their politics but it would be a breach of responsibility were they to stand at the touchline of the current war and open competition for the evil Putin’s teams.
    Putin is the rotten core at the heart of Russia.
    But now, incredibly, the IOC are considering whether the country’s athletes should be allowed to compete under the national flag at the Paris Games in 2024.
    Lord Sebastian Coe, president of World  Athletics, is having none of this. He didn’t win two Olympic golds to watch his sport descend into hypocrisy.
    Gianni ‘I feel like a woman’ Infantino has not committed to official Russian entry into the bloated World Cup 2026 in North America.
    Football must have nothing to do with the Kremlin until the bombs stop dropping, the kidnapped children are sent home and the tanks trundle back.
    Awarded the Russian Order of Friendship, it seems that the friendship might have become less friendly, although not enough for Gianni to return the medal pinned on him by Putin himself in 2019.
    Infantino has practically been voted president unanimously (how does he do that?) and continues to see himself as a well-dressed world leader in white shoes with an even whiter reputation.
    He failed though when he tried to silence the bloody sounds of war for the month of the Qatar competition.
    Gross naivety, gross vanity.
    Neither Putin nor Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s leader, appear to have given a moment of thought to a truce.
    Putin has all the principles of a starving rat and would have used the month to rebuild his stock of weaponry.
    Poor repressed Belarus would have helped and Iran-made drones flown in by the thousand.
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    Ukraine, the excellent Shakhtar Donetsk and others, continue to play to a background of war.
    Football must have nothing to do with the Kremlin until the bombs stop dropping on factories, schools, hospitals and homes, until all the kidnapped children are sent home and until the tanks trundle back over the border. More