FIFA rankings of North Korea is low because they do not play Freindlies that often on FIFA match dates. Their political equations with other countries is partly responsibl for that. But they are not a bad team, they have been at World Cup as recent as 2010.
Why their ranking is low you explanation is correct, but they are not great of a team either. With proper team selection India can beat them. They are of the level of Kygyzs I think.
They have some foreign based players. Atleast 3 regular players are based in Europe (2 in Italy and one is Switzerland). They also have 3 or 4 Japan born players in Japanese clubs.
For World Cup Qualifiers, they will bring them in the squad and will be stronger then what we have seen now in Intercontinental Cup.
North Korean youth system is probably one of best in Asia they mess up at club level. There League standard is poo with no foreign players or coaches thus they don't learn much when they make transition.
This is were other countries overtake them South Korea,Australia, China, Saudi etc have highly competitive leagues which help their NT. north Korea need to open their country or send there [players abroad staying at home wont help
DPR Korea skipper Jong Il Gwan was named the Hero of the Tournament for his three goals in the competition, as well as the match-winning assist in the final.
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But, off late, they are not strong anymore... any asian team ranked b/w 10 & 20 can beat them... maybe the difference is less now-a-days in AFC..
Find the previous results here https://bit.ly/30NKr23
This is were other countries overtake them South Korea,Australia, China, Saudi etc have highly competitive leagues which help their NT. north Korea need to open their country or send there [players abroad staying at home wont help
https://sportstar.thehindu.com/football/intercontinental-cup-2019-final-dpr-korea-champion-tajikistan-match-report/article28601379.ece