Under the guidance and requirements of the AFC, North Korea also began to implement "clubbing", with the former professional teams gradually transitioning to "professional clubs", and each club has at least two youth echelons. This is also a fundamental reason for AFC to allow North Korean club teams to participate in AFC's second-level club competition-AFC Champions Cup. More importantly, the first season home and away games in the true sense of North Korea have also started in full swing in the 20 17 season, with a total of 13 teams participating. All leagues will be held on Saturday or Sunday. From Monday to Friday, all the players take part in the training of the national team, and then leave on Friday to return to their respective clubs to participate in the weekend league. After the league, the players returned to the national team to participate in national team training.
In 20 17, North Korea has always had two club teams participating in the AFC Champions Cup, namely "Team 4.25" and "Government Car Sports Team". Both teams were divided into the first group, which is a Mongolian music group. Results Team 4.25 won the first place in the small group and qualified for the "Inter-regional Additional Semifinal". As a result, India defeated 3-0 in the semi-final. It should be noted that the AFC Champions Cup and AFC Champions League are located in East Asia, which is different from West Asia. The AFC Cup is divided into five divisions: Southeast Asia, East Asia, West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. The semi-final of the cross-regional play-off is decided by drawing lots. 20 17 Inter-regional Play-offs semi-final draw result is East Asia.
20 18 north Korea still has 1.5 seats to participate in the AFC champions league, of which 4.25 teams directly participate in the group stage, while the league runner-up Torch Club participates in the qualifiers first, and can only appear in the group stage after passing the qualifiers.