Han Bong-zin

In 1957, the North Korea national football team was re-organized with the goal of competing at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. In c. 1962, Han was chosen as one of the best 40 players from the North Korean leagues, whose membership reportedly consisted of over 250,000, to be considered for the national team. The 40 players were enlisted into the Army as military officers, under the leadership of colonel and coach Myung Rye-hyun, and went under strict training for the next four years in preparation for the cup. Han and the others trained twice a day starting at 6:00 a.m. and were under other restrictions which included being unmarried, no smoking, no drinking, and (for the last six months) being in bed by 10:00 p.m. In early 1965, the North Korean leagues were suspended to allow the roster to focus solely on the task of making the World Cup. Han and the rest of the players gained experience by playing a number of international matches against nations including North Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and China. In 1965, Han competed for the national team at the Games of Emerging New Forces (GANEFO) and helped them go undefeated with a 3–1 win over China in the finals. Later in 1965, Han was a key player at the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification, scoring two goals over Australia in the eliminating match, which made North Korea the sole qualifier from the African, Asian and Oceanic zone. Han, an outside right, was ultimately chosen as one of 22 players for the World Cup team. He was…

Han was born on 2 September 1945 in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. At the club level, he played for the 2.8 Sports Team in the country's top league.

For the team's performance at the World Cup, all the players who appeared in a match were given the title of Merited Athlete, the second-highest honor for sportspeople in North Korea. After the World Cup, it was rumored that the North Korean squad was imprisoned for celebrating the win over Italy in a bar; however, when interviewed in 2002, several players denied this. Han later managed the North Korean national team from July 1980 to December 1981. In 2002, he was interviewed as one of the seven surviving members of the 1966 North Korean team in the documentary The Game of Their Lives and visited Middlesbrough with his former teammates. As of that year, he was serving as a coach and technical director for Pyongyang Sports Club.